Feline
by JingKikuta
Summary: In a society where a higher percentage of Hybrids kills themselves due to bullying than graduates highschool, sixteen year old Kurt Hummel tries to hide his true identity and survive the normal craziness of schoollife. But when the bullying comes to a head Kurt is forced to leave McKinley and to enrol at the Dalton Academy, a renowned all-boys-school.
1. Prologue

**Feline**

**Subtitle: **Or how the Cat tried to stay in the Bag

**Fandom: **Glee

**Genre**: Humor, Romance

**Rating**: PG (-13)

**Pairings**: Klaine, Niff, Finchel, Brittana, Tike

**Summary**:

In a society where a higher percentage of Hybrids kills themselves due to bullying than graduates highschool, sixteen year old Kurt Hummel tries to hide his true identity and survive the normal craziness of schoollife. But when the bullying comes to a head Kurt is forced to leave McKinley and to enrol at the Dalton Academy, a renowned all-boys-school known for their strict anti-bullying policy.

**Warnings**: AU, Kitty!Kurt, Hybrids, Homophobia, Hybridphobia

**Disclaimer**: Neither the characters, nor the settings belong to me. Every used picture has not been created by me, but by several talented artists and I do not take profit in any kind by publishing this story. (Apart from love and reviews) Links to the original images can be found on my tumblr page.

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A few words from your author before you start reading:

Welcome to my newest story addition,

A few months ago the kitty!kurt verse appeared, apparently out of nowhere on my dashboard and I was instantly captured. The idea of an alternative society where human hybrids exist and are part of the everyday life, fascinated me and made me want to read more about it. Sadly there are very few (and even fewer high-quality) stories in this verse, even though it seems to have quite a large fandom. So I did what every writer tends to do when they don't find what they're looking for: I decided to write something myself. So, here you go, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it and don't feel shy to tell me your honest opinion. Since English isn't my native language I appreciate tips to improve my grammar, as well as patience with small mistakes I make. Apart from that feel free to correct, comment, or ask anything you like either here, or on my tumblr page, where you can find me under my Nickname 'JingKikuta'. There you will also find the edited and styled newspaper articles that you should definitely have a look at.

My biggest thank goes to my wonderful beta Urmerline, who not only corrected every single chapter and article, but also pointed out all my grammar and spelling mistakes even if I made them over and over again. She even managed to catch all the little logical twists that would not quite fit together and that I hoped everyone would overlook, so I didn't have to spend too much thought on them. So, thank you, you are lovely and

Don't worry, I'm finished talking now and you can start reading. I would leave you imaginative milk and cookies accompanying you, but who knows when you are going to read this, so you will have to deal with dried meat and water for now.

Enjoy!

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**~*~ Prolog ~*~**

**Ancient Hybrid Fossil Found**

-How far does the history of hybrids go back?-

African archaeologists have found a series of ancient hybrid fossils near the coast of Kenya. Modern scientists suspect the origin of the species in East Africa where it first occurred around the third century BC. The originally Latin word comes from "hybrida", meaning the "offspring of an tame sow and a wild boar", or "child of a freeman and slave", or similar expressions. The term entered into popular use in English only in the nineteenth century, though evidence of its use have been found from the early seventeenth century AD. One explanation for the late acceptance of the term can be found in the actively justified superstition concerning supernatural and unique occurrences, as well as in the low number of reported cases of hybridism. Furthermore do scientists nowadays suspect that hybrids became nearly extinct during the fifth to eighth century due to their origin in a recessive gene. This special gene cluster responsible for their animal treats is passed on through every generation, but does not necessarily show. Only when the necessary gene is found in both parents chromosomes are the animal features inherited. This also explains why recent cases of hybridism are only found in family's owning a branched out family tree, including several known cases of hybridism. The discovery in Kenya proves to be just another argument against the newest developments in the discussion about hybrid rights that supporters of the species exploit to their advantage.

**- Hybrids around the World -**

Malaysia introduces new national sport: hybrid hunting

Newest information from the government of Malaysia shock even the harshest criticizers of the hybrid society. A few days ago President Sandrez announced on a public press conference the newest addition to their Olympic sports programme: hybrid hunting. Hybrid right supporters all around the globe demand an immediate interference of the United States.

Cathybrid is crowned Egypt's new queen

It is common knowledge that cats have been seen as godlike creatures since ancient times in Egypt. Nowadays these status has been adopted by a group of cathybrids who claim to be the reborn Egypt cat god Bastet. This theory seems to be well accepted among the Egypts, since their leader, Elanya Renastere, has been crowned queen three days ago.

Thousands of Indians pilgrimage to Adra to see the Sâmpilan

Eight in the morning on the streets of Adra. Thousands of people gather around the small doors of a sand coloured house. Here, that is common knowledge, lives the holy Sâmpilan, a eighty-five year old snakehybrid ,who is worshipped as a God in India. People from the whole world pilgrimage to Adra to catch a glimps of the holy men on the occasion of his upcoming great day.

**How Hybrids Destroy Modern Society** -A concerned reader-

Hybrids, analgams, or any other name you chose to call them by, are not talented, special, or even gifted. What hybrids and hybridism are, is an evil abomination in the eyes of God, a blemish on the face of God's creation. Many churches and many believers in God have gotten lazy and relaxed in taking a stand for what is right and what is of God. Because of this, hybridism is running rampant in an ever-increasing number. Well, enough is enough. It is time to take a stand and stand up for what is right. Hybridism is a sin. As children of the one and only eternal and loving true God, we have nothing to fear from these sinners. In fact, it is they who are afraid of us. The time has come to make a choice. Are you on the side of those who are committing an abomination in the eyes of God or are you on God's side, the side of truth and righteousness?

**Political Discussion Comes to a Head – **Is the new bill still going to pass?

When bill number eight, also known as 'The Hybrid Bill' was proposed to the American Congress on the 18th of January 2013 it caused the greatest uproar in the United States since the legitimation of hybrid marriage in June 2011. Countless opponents invaded the streets and brought petitions and demonstrations to life to prevent the bill from passing and even between the Congress men clash the positions. During the following weeks the Congress and the Senat are going to discuss, edit and change the bill to their likening, before it is presented to the responsible Committee. The Committee examines and considers the bill during several consultations. This process leads to the Markup where every representative is allowed to recite their position, before the bill including every annotation is passed to the two chambers. There a pronunciation takes place after which the bill is voted on. Afterwords the Congress's proposal is compared to the changes the Senat realised. If the two proposals match the bill is submitted to the President. If the two proposals contradict, like in most cases, representatives of the Congress and the Senat unite to the Conference Committee. If they are able to connect the changes the bill is presented to the President by a representative of the Congress. The President now has the right to either, to veto the suggestion, or let it pass either through acceptance, or inactivity. What the outcome of this conflict is going to be seems to be undecided, yet.

What is Bill Number Eight?

Bill Number eight is the try of hybrid supporters to ensure that a violation of a law against a Hybrid is pursued in the same way as a crime against a human.

**Birdhybrid graduates!**

_Two o' clock on a sunny Friday. Here, in the middle of Brasil Jason Honower is going to meet the young Birdhybrid Lilly Voêla. She is one of the few Hybrids that graduated High School successfully and can have a look at her bright future. During the interview she talks about the constant bullying during her schooltime and what she would like to tell every bullied Hybrid. _

**JH**: Good afternoon Ms. Voêla. It is a pleasure to meet you here in your home country. Tell me, do you like it here?

**LV**: Brasil is a country with many faces. Some of them are beautiful and welcoming and some not so much, but nevertheless this is what I call home and I would not change it for the world. Oh, and please call me Lilly.

**JH**: All right Lilly, you are one of the few Hybrids that graduated High school. How do you feel about this?

**LV**: It is an incredible feeling. To know that I have survived what countless others haven't and now being able to study, or even work in a job is a huge step not only for me, but for the complete hybrid society. My family is incredible proud of me and I am immensely glad that I didn't disappoint them.

**JH**: I take from this that your family is supportive of you?

**LV**: Yes, very. My father and mother are humans, but my grandmother was a birdhybrid, too. Both of my grandparents died during the second World War, but they raised my father to be very acceptive towards Hybrids. My mother had a hard time when it became clear that I was a carrier of the active Hybrid gene, but abortion has never been an option for her and today I could not hope for a better, or more understanding mother. My whole family supported me during my schooltime and when the bullying came to a head, it was my mother, who got my leading bully expended.

**JH**: It is common knowledge that many Hybrids have to bear enormous bullying. What was the worst you had to endure?

**LV**: There were the usual treats and name-calling, but the worst was the fear. To know that no matter what they did to me, how bad they would hurt me, they wouldn't have to be be judged for it, neither by society, nor by a court, was a living nightmare. Theoretically do human rights apply to Hybrids as well, but once someone violates a law and hurts a hybrid in the process the case isn't pursued. Without having any confines that would delimit their actions the bullying got worse everyday until I was shoved down a staircase during my Freshmen year.

**JH**: How did your family react to that?

**LV**: My mother throw a fit. She marched right away to the office of my headmaster and said that she wouldn't leave this room until the boy that attacked me got permanently expelled. Surprisingly it worked. I was all in all very lucky and could be dismissed from the hospital after barely one month so that I didn't have to repeat the year.

**JH**: Do you have a message for everyone who has to endure bullying?

**LV**: Stay strong, because once you have made it through to graduation you know you have won.

**Fun and Facts –** Would you have known?

_The wildest stories have been afloat concerning hybrids and their history. This article reveals what is based on facts and what has sprung from an over imaginative mind._

Hybridism Is a Disease

Contrary to popular believe hybridism is caused by a specific gene mutation that varies in the countries and strains and can only be inherited through birth. It is in most cases a recessive inherited gene, but it can skip a generation. Especially the cat-genes have proven to be very persistent.

Hybrids Are not Human

Even though hybrids are equipped with certain animal treats, there overall anatomy is very similar to that of the humans. They are counted to the mammalian species, but not specificly to the human species.

Hybrids Do not Have the Same Rights as We Do

In general hybrids have the same rights as humans, but crime against them is not nearly as strictly judged as it is against others. There are several cases reported where robbery, rape and even murder against hybrids were not condemned.

Because of that hybrid supporters have the goal to enforce the approval of the new bill that would guarantee that crime against hybrids is pursued just as hard as crime against humans. Opponents argue that hybrids hardly classify as human beings and should therefore not be treated as such.

Hybrids and Humans Are not able to Have 'Normal' Children

As mentioned above hybrid's anatomy is very similar to that of a human being. Therefore healthy children between hybrids and human are possible and furthermore nothing uncommon.

Hybrids Have their own Language

Animals of the same family, or even species are often able to communicate with each other in their own language. Because of this many people live in the believe that hybrids are able to speak in their own language, or communicate through their own system. While the possibility of that is not entirely discarded most hybrids only speak their native tongue. Modern scientists believe that theoretically the creation of an own hybrid language is possible, but because of the small number of hybrids it has not been developed yet.


	2. Chapter 1

Welcome to Chapter One,

I'm seriously amazed with the feedback this story got, just because of the Prologue. Thank you all, so much for this.

I hope you enjoy the new Chapter :)

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**~*~ Chapter One ~*~**

It's time to begin, isn't it?

(Imagine Dragons; It's time)

There was a new guy at the Dalton Academy.

This fact in itself would not have been anything out of the ordinary. As one of the few schools in Ohio maintaining a strict anti-bullying policy Dalton had become a safe heaven for harassed teenagers and had seen a steady increase in the number of their students every year. But being a midyear transfer, something even the Dalton headboard approved only on very few occasions, the new boy had been gossip-topic number one, since Miles Louis, a red-headed freshmen known for his love of exaggeration, had spied him on the parking lot right before first period.

At first Blaine felt nothing but curiosity and maybe the littlest bit of anticipation towards the new student, but after four periods surrounded by boys who created the most imaginative backgroundstories concerning the new boy – and bored boys could be **very** imaginative – Blaine could not help to feel annoyed.

"Hey B. Wanna' check out the new student before lunch?" asked Wes. His full name was Wesley Montgomery and in front of adults and during important meetings he came across as a very responsible and eloquent young men, who had a great career as a lawyer or maybe a doctor in front of him, often accompanied by his beautiful girlfriend. But at the moment one of his arms was slung loosely around Blaine's back while the other tried to push away his best friend David Thompson, who had tried to steal his history essay for at least two periods. David, normally also a very mature and educated student, stock his tongue out at him, before poking Blaine in the side and asking at his disgruntled face, "Come on, Blaine. Everyone is talking about him. Aren't you at least a bit curios?"

"There is a crucial difference between plain curiosity and searching the school grounds for a new student," Blaine replied unimpressed.

"Blaaine." Wes was stretching the syllables of his name in a worrying way. "All we are going to do is take a little walk around the school grounds and if we happen to come across our newbie, whose current location as my sources tell me is the library, then this will be nothing else but a lucky coincidence."

"Yeah, sure ..." murmured Blaine. But nevertheless he let himself be dragged past the cafeteria where he stopped for a few seconds with a longing look before being shoved away, across the yard and in front of the wooden doors of the Dalton library. There they were greeted with the sight of several Dalton students suspiciously unsuspicious loafing around the entrance while trying to catch a glimpse at the new boy.

David cleared his throat. "Gentlemen, what might be going on in here?"

The boys started mumbling all at once about book-loaning deadlines, important homework and research, shuffling on their feet, before slowly retreating. Blaine coughed, "Hypocrites."

David ignored him and moved on, pushing the doors gently open, before heading towards the librarian´s desk.

"Excuse me?" he announced in a loud, absolutely library inappropriate voice. "We, that includes my friends and I, who happen to be responsible straight A students, absolutely suitable to be imposed with extracurricular tasks, like let's say ... showing around new students, would like to borrow a book."

"Smooth," said Blaine, while the librarian simply raised a questioning eyebrow at them. He took a quick look around the library, but apart from a few seniors starring at them he was not able to make out anyone else between the shelves. Wes, who had been observing the scenery as well since David's noisy entrance, nudged him gently and pointed across the room at the back of a Shakespearean statue's head. And indeed, hidden into the figure's shadow, Blaine could trace the outlines of an uniform-clad body.

"That must be him," whispered Wes into his ear. Blaine nodded, before turning back to David to inform him about their newest revelation. The boy was still in the middle of a stare off with the librarian and only several not-so-subtly whispered 'David!'s, followed by nudges were able to get his attention. Once he seemed to have understood what was going on he declared in the same loud voice, "Nevermind, I think we just found what we were looking for!"

Blaine send the woman behind the desk an apologetic smile, silently excusing for his friend´s craziness and hoping that this encounter would not affect his future library researches.

The three boys made their way over to the shadow in the corner. While approaching Blaine realised that he had not the slightest idea what to say to the new boy - if the figure even was him – and how to explain their sudden interest in him without sounding like a creepy stalker. Well, hopefully Wes and David had some kind of plan in their back pocket. Or, after prolonged thinking, hopefully they had **not**, because their '100% secured, perfect, infallible'-plans always ended up hurting someone. This someone being Blaine most of the time.

"Excuse us?" They had arrived in front of a small boy who looked up sharply at Wes's word. He had to be around their age, sixteen at the most, his chestnut hair styled precisely up in the air, posture straight, but stiff. Crossing his arms defensively in front of his body, he looked expectantly, but a bit wary at them.

"What do you want?" he asked in the most high-pitched voice Blaine had ever heard coming from a boy.

Slightly taken aback from his hostile behaviour Wes looked questioningly at David, who in return looked just as questioningly back. Blaine chose this to be the right moment to interfere.

"Hello," he said, sending the boy his most charming smile, "We heard from a few of the other boys that you are new to Dalton and wanted to offer you our help in case you have any questions or need advise."

The boy narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why?"

David seemed to have found his voice again as he opened his mouth to answer, before being beaten to it by Wes.

"Because 'The Dalton Academy trains and encourages their students to act public-spirited and pleasant in every possible situation even through greatest difficulties, to educate them to be responsible, tactful young gentlemen.'" He looked very proud of having learned this sentence, right from the Dalton-brochure, by heart and finally finding an opportunity to use it after memorizing it during a very boring chemistry lesson.

"Uh, show-off," murmured David.

"What my dear friend meant to say was 'Welcome to Dalton. I'm Blaine Anderson and these two gentlemen are Wes Montgomery and David Thompson. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The newbie still looked slightly suspicious, but a small smile was tugging at his lips as he shook his extended hand. "I'm Kurt, Kurt Hummel."

"Alright, Kurt, would you like to join us for lunch?" grinned Wes.

"Well, actually ..."

"Great, come on them. We will give you a quick tour passing the most important places and introducing you to the cool people. Well, of course you have already met the coolest of them all."

"Brilliant idea Wes-star. Don't worry, we will guide you through your day and be your bestest school-buddies! This is actually quite similar to how we met and befriended Blainey-boo, over here."

Ignoring Blaine's mouthed 'Run as fast as you can!', Kurt had barely time to grab his bag before being dragged along by the overly motivated boys.

"Oh, with you in our magic friendship-circle we will finally be four friends! The magic number!"

"Sweet! Just like the musketeers," added David, clapping his hands.

"Weren't that … three?" asked Kurt who had been following the back and forth of the conversation with his eyes like he was watching the fastest ping-pong-match in history.

Wes gaped at him, stretching his eyes comically. "Three, four … Do plain numbers really matter in sight of what is soon going to be the greatest and most epic friendship in history?"

"Besides even though the originally known musketeers consisted only of three people, with D'Artagnans arrival and nomination to a lieutenant their number extended to four," Blaine added.

Wes and David 'uhued' mockingly, causing Blaine to glare at them.

"See, that's what the Dalton-brochure is talking about," David said.

"Blaine's life-goal is to be printed on the brochures front page," alleged Wes.

Blaine raised an eyebrow. This apparent life-goal of himself had been unknown to him.

"Even though everybody knows that the cover hasn't been changed since 1998," added David

"Silly Blaine," Wes said and patted 'silly-Blaine's' head superiorly.

Blaine flinched and glared at his friend, but his expression quickly turned into a smug smile Wes had to wipe away a great amount of hair gel sticking to his palm.

"I hope you realise that not a word they just said is true," said Blaine, while connecting his eyes seriously to Kurt´s. "Mr. Beyer, our school psychologist designated them notorious liar in the desperate need of attention, but I happen to think that they are just plain bored. Furthermore you need to know that everything they might tell you about me, the teachers, the school-ghost, or their invented monster in the second floor bathroom, which they creatively enough called 'Shnessie', is an utter and complete lie." Still dead serious Blaine held Kurt's gaze.

Kurt looked a bit unsure for a moment starring at Blaine's grave expression, before bursting into a sudden quiet giggle, a sound that seemed to surprise himself just as much as his companions, because he quickly clapped a hand across his mouth. A faint blush started to spread across his cheeks and he glanced shyly, but with a small smile at Blaine.

Blaine could not help the self-satisfied smile that overtook his features and felt a swell of pride filling his chest for having put the boy a bit more at ease around them. Wes and David exchanged a knowing look, but thankfully let it slide for now.

"This year is gonna' be great!" declared Wes.

"Yes, way better than last year when all we had was boring Blaine," added David.

Blaine silently gaped at him. "Oh, now I'm boring?"

"Well, you did fine last year, but now that we have Kurtie here," started Wes, before extending a hand to pat said boy's head.

With a silent hiss Kurt jerked back, while holding up an arm defensively. His eyes had lowered dangerously, every muscle in his body on edge.

All four boys froze.

Wes grin fell instantly and he slowly retreated his hand, an so utter expression of shock on his face that it would have looked funny if it were not for the situation. Kurt's gaze dropped ashamed to the floor and he silently stepped a few feet back. A tense silence settled between them during which the three friends exchanged worried glances. In the end Blaine stepped carefully forward.

"Kurt, could I talk to you for a second?" he asked, searching the boy's eyes.

Kurt's head snapped up, his eyes widening panicky, but before he had a chance to answer David piped up, "Yeah, Wes and I need to get my biology textbook anyway, right Wes?"

Wes, who was still staring at his hand like it was some kind of alien looked perplex at his friend. "Sure ..." he said slowly. They nodded at each other. "Bye Kurt." "Catch you later, B."

Left alone, Blaine offered a timid smile to the other. "Would you like to go to the courtyard? It's quite cold out there, but the gardens are beautiful, even in winter." Still avoiding his gaze, Kurt just nodded.

The air between them was strained, loaded with the silence of two people that do not know each other well enough to walk together without talking.

Blaine's head was spinning with a thousand thoughts and while one part of his brain was busy wondering about the reasons for Kurt's reaction, the others constructed million possible word-construct he could tell the boy. Would he want to talk about it? Surely not. After all they hadn't known each for longer than a few minutes. But maybe he could at least offer some advice.

Finally they reached the outlines of the Dalton Academy gardens. Blaine nodded towards one of the marmoreal benches uttering a silent request to which Kurt complied. They sat.

"Kurt ..." Blaine began. "We don't know each other long or well enough that I would dare to ask you about your reaction, but I think I would like to make a few things about Dalton and its students clear. You don't have to listen to me and I don't expect anything from you afterwards, but I think it might help you, because someone said something quite similar to me when I started here and I still like to remember it.

First of all I can assure you that nobody here-and that includes faculty as well as students- means any harm to you. An anti-bullying-policy can be a very foreign concept to some people, believe me I know, and it is hard to comprehend at first, but with a little time you will get used to it, at least I hope so..." He chuckled quietly and was pleased to see the small smile playing around Kurt's lips. "Until then there is not much you, or I can do about it and I can't make you any promises, but if you think it would help and want that … I could try to help you. By being your friend, or by just listening to you whenever you need to talk. Again, we don't know each other very well, or at all. At an afterthought I might not be the best person to talk to you about this and it would be very nice if you said something now, or interrupted me, because I think otherwise I'm going to ramble on, and on, and -"

"Blaine," Kurt interrupted him with a small smile. "I would really like to get to know you better."

"Oh. Oh, okay then." Slowly a big grin spread across his face. "Awesome! … But I really think we should head back to class now. I'm sorry I stole your lunch break."

"That's quite all right. I actually wanted to tell you back in the library: I already ate lunch with the secretary, because after my talk with the headmaster, a quick school-tour and filling out all the paperwork it had already been the middle of third period."

Blaine laughed freely. "That just proves that Wes and David should listen at least sometimes to the things others have to say. I will be sure to pass the message on."

"Apropos Wes and David ..:" Kurt looked worried towards the Dalton building.

"Oh, don't worry about them. I'm sure Wes is feeling terribly guilty for putting you on the spot like that, while David is trying to soothe him."

If anything Kurt just looked more worried and guilty at that, so Blaine gently touched his arm, careful to hold eye contact the whole time and to keep his movements slow and followable.

"Hey, it's alright. What's your next class?" Kurt answered after a thorough look at his numerous plans that apparently he had to head to Biology, taught by Mrs. Sargton. Blaine, of course, insisted on escorting him to the science wing and assured him that at least Wes surely would be in his class and if he was not mistaken David as well. And indeed as they entered the building both Wes and David were already waiting in front of Kurt's classroom. They seemed to be deep in conversation, the topic of which became apparent as they immediately quietened down, once spotting Kurt and Blaine. While David awaited them only a little worried, Wes was still looking guilty and anxious, trying to keep eye contact. He was also still eyeing his hand like it would start shooting his classmates any second.

Blaine glanced at Kurt with an 'I told you so'-look, before gently nudging him forward. Reluctantly the boy stepped forward, facing Wes, who promptly started talking.

"I'm really sorry about earlier, Kurt. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Kurt offered him a slight smile, "Don't worry about it. I'm fine, now."

They shared an understanding look and a short silence settled between them that was suddenly interrupted by a handsome brunette pushing between them.

"Is it true that Mrs. Sargton is forcing us to write a test today?" he panted, looking frantically from Wes to David. The latter frowned confused. "Not that I would know of even though Jeff said yesterday ..."

Blaine used the upcoming -and very loud- discussion to silently bid Kurt goodbye, before excusing himself and slipping away to reach his class in time.

He did not see Kurt again until right after sixth period, when he spotted him across the parking lot as the boy carefully stowed his bag into his car, a dangerous looking grey navigator. He waved and was about to make his way over to him, but a quick glance at his clock reminded him that he had a meeting with Nick Duval, one of his history classmates and fellow Warbler, in five minutes.

So he send Kurt the biggest smile he could manage, waving once more, before turning around and hurrying back to the Dalton building.

* * *

Kurt Hummel sighed, grabbing his bag from the seat of his navigator and headed towards his house. School always was exhausting for people like him, but being the new kid and therefore feeling like he was constantly observed, he could not help but be on edge non-stop and flinching at every glance thrown his way.

His keys jingled as he pushed the front door open. "Dad, I'm home!"

"Hey bud, I'm in the kitchen."

"I really hope you aren't trying to cook, because I'm not sure I'm going to survive it this time." As Kurt stepped into their cosy kitchen he was greeted with the affronted face of his father.

"I totally improved! My scrambled eggs this morning killed."

"Quite literally," Kurt mumbled, before adding slightly louder. "Besides it was _me _who cooked them. All you did was spicing them. With cinnamon."

"It was the nicest smelling one! But still, you don't have to worry, I ordered take-out." At Kurt's concerned face he quickly added, "No red meat, low fat and a salad for you. After all this is your 'Congratualtion-you-survived-your-first-day-at-sch ool' – meal." Burt's smile was so proud that Kurt did not have the heart to tell him that in reality all he wanted to do was crawl into his bed and sleep forever. "I'm just going to get changed. I can practically feel how this uniform is slowly forcing my fashion sense into suicide."

His dad threw his head back and laughed, one hand scratching at the top of his Buckeyes cap. "Yeah sure, go ahead."

Kurt smiled at him, before hurrying down the stairs to his room. While unbuttoning his coat, he pushed the door open with his hip and stepped into the room. With a longing glance at his comfortable bed, he shrugged his blazer of, before straightening it and hanging it next to his coat. Then he moved in front of his bathroom mirror, hands tugging impatiently at the sides of his scalp. Finally with a silent 'click' the four barrettes hidden in his carefully styled hair opened and revealed round cat ears. Stiff from being held back all day they twitched restlessly, stretching and turning to relax. Gently Kurt placed the construction of hair clips, extensions and strings on the edge of his sink, sighing relieved at the cool breeze swirling around his freed ears. After sliding out of his uniform pants he bent down, carefully unleashing the leather strap, winding up his leg to keep his tail in place. As soon as it was free, Kurt curled his tail around his leg, while carefully stepping into a pair of lose sweatpants. The were wide enough that he could keep his tail hidden underneath the fabric, but after being trapped for so long his tail itched to swing free, so Kurt guided it through the small hole in the back of his pants. After he had completed his ensemble with a simple white shirt he could not postpone going upstairs any more.

Time to face his Dad and the catalogue of questions that he had surely created over the day.

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Theta23: Thank you :) I really appreciate your compliments and hope you like the first chapter.

Rooz33: Yaaay! Kitty!Kurt! I'm so glad you like it :)

the-power-of-love: I hope you like the first chapter :) I know the story you are referring to and I really like it so, I will tale the comparison as a compliment, but apart from Kitty!kurt there are very little similarities as you will see ...

BreakMyWings: I'm not sure if there is a deeper sense in your comment, or if just , or your computer play up, but thank you for your try? : D

mlking2015: Well, I hope I can hold your interest :) Thanks for your review!


	3. Chapter 2

Why hello there, my lovely readers,

The feedback I got for this story is simply amazing. Thank you to every follower, alerter and favouriter, but especially to the ones that even left a review :)

As you will see there is a change in perspective in this Chapter: It's completely written out of Kurt's perspective, since the last one contained mostly Blaine's. These changes will happen every other chapter, unless it's relevant for the plot to change this order.

Enough talking, enjoy the chapter!

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**~*~ Chapter Two ~*~**

Touch my world with your fingertips

(Queen; Who wants to live forever?)

* * *

**Ongoing Discussion about Bill No. 8**

_The discussion about bill No. 8 continues. During the past few days several politicians felt the need to make their opinion on the possible law publicly known through various press conferences and speeches. Slowly it becomes clear that the thoughts on the matter could not differ more throughout the world._

"Hybrids can not be called equal to us and therefore do not deserve the same treatment. This bill is an attack against humanity and if it passes all of our lives are endangered. " [Richard Morwin, Politician, 12.06.2013]

"It is a well-known fact that hybrids are the mammalian that comes closest to our human race. Their gene structure is over 99% similar to ours, which means that they beat the monkey as our closest relative. But even monkeys have stricter laws against their mistreatment. If a zookeeper would constantly hurt a monkey, he would be courtly pursued and arrested. It is not acceptable that living creatures that are even closer to us than animals don't even have the same rights as them!" [Jason Honower, Journalist, 22.05.2013]

"Are we able to define hybrids as human beings? No, but we can't deny the fact that they are closer to us than any animals. But what if the bill passes? What would happen with every crime against hybrids that happened before the passing? Will it be pursued? Do we have to fear the new law, or reveal in it?" [Mary Wrigth, Secretary, 01.06.2013]

"Is it right to ensure hybrids more rights in this world than discriminated minorities? The answer to that is a clear no! Before we let this happen we have to improve the living conditions of every human being." [Marson Kisasha, Japanese Minister, 29.05.2013]

**- Hybrids around the World -**

Hybrids worldwide follow the ongoing discussion concerning the new bill which is to be enforced in the United States. If the bill is going to pass this would set a mile stone in hybrid history.

Supporters are convinced that the bill is going to give hope to hybrids all around the world and set an imitative example for other countries.

**Malaysian National Sport in the Critique**

After the shocking news about the new Olympic sport 'hybrid hunting' enforced by President Sandrez, supporters of hybrid rights all over the globe started public protests. Petitions have been going around and collected over one million signatures, so far. Furthermore they have started protest marches and peaceful, public assemblies to demonstrate their disapproval. The Malaysian president has yet to announce his position to the recent developments and protests. The government of the United States, too, remained silent so far, even though countless criticizers have voiced their disapproval. The government is forced to act soon if they want to prevent a public revolt.

* * *

Burt Hummel sighed and put his newspaper down. A few months ago he would have thrown a fit at the ongoing discussion concerning Bill No.8, cursing and swearing at every incompetent, biased politician, but constant exhortations from his son and time had taught him patience. The discussions between journalists, managers and ministers seemed endless and while Burt wanted nothing more than to knock some sense into their thick skulls, he had learned the hard way that while talking may be silver, silence often really was gold. Especially when said talking could endanger your own son. The last thing they needed was unwanted attention drawn to them. Speaking of the devil, in that moment Kurt made his way up the stairs, already neatly dressed in his school uniform, bag dangling from his shoulder.

"Morning Dad."

"Hey, kiddo. Sleep well?"

"Fine," he murmured, before wiping the closed newspaper from the table with detestation. "I thought I told you not to read this. It will only give you heartproblems."

"Just because we can't do anything about it doesn't mean we shouldn't stay updated," his Dad responded. "Besides my heart is fine. It has already given up on them coming to a satisfying solution."

Kurt smiled, but it was subdued and after fixing himself a quick breakfast he silently asked, "They've still not come to a conclusion?"

"Afraid not, bud." Burt looked worriedly at his sons dark face. "But hey, on the upside one of your kind was crowned queen in Egypt a few days ago."

"Smashing," Kurt said drily, while buttering a toast. Since his tasting buds were not quite as developed as that of regular human beings, he liked to keep it simple during breakfast and lunch, going all out at dinner instead. For years Kurt had got accustomed to a healthy diet, a useful habit inherited at an early age from his mother and continued even after her death eight years ago. vegetables did not do much for him, but any food must be heavily spiced for him to appreciate it, so it did not really matter if he filled his stomach with carrot sticks, or french fries and Kurt would always opt for the first choice. Alone to keep his body in shape.

Besides he was regularly praised for his excellent diet during his monthly check-ups, a mandatory the law as well as common sense required. Due to Kurt's regular appointments with their Doctor of trust, Doctor Leyfert Burt's health was checked just as regularly and the last test results had been alarming. Far too high cholesterol and an even higher blood pressure. So far nothing serious had happened, but Doctor Leyfert had advised them urgently that prevention was better than cure and a healthy diet as well as regular workouts would prevent a possible stroke.

"Ah, and by the way I'm gonna' be a bit late tonight, so don't worry when you find an empty house once you come home," his Dad mentioned deliberately casual.

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow, taking a sip from his orange juice. "Are you doing long hours in the garage again? Because you know the doctor told you-"

Burt rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not working. Actually ..."

If Kurt had not known better he would have said that a faint blush had appeared on his Dad's cheeks. But that was just ridiculous. His father was a grown man, after all.

"Actually I have an appointment with Doctor Leyfert."

"Again?" Kurt lowered his eyes suspiciously. "Haven't you been there just a few days ago?"

"What? No, that can't be right! You must have confused the dates." Now Kurt was sure that Burt was blushing.  
"No, I'm pretty sure I remember you standing on top of the stairs asking me whether 'A black and white cap was over the top?'."

His father murmured something unintelligible, before looking wide-eyed at the clock.

"Oh my, it's getting late! You better get going. Don't wanna' be late on your second day of school!Have fun. Try not to make too many guys fall in love with you. Bye!"

Kurt put his dishes in the sink, before rolling his eyes. "Sure Dad, whatever. But this conversation isn't over. Sooner or later you are going to tell me about your secret meetings."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," his Dad smiled while gently shoving him out of the door.

First period was exhausting to say the least. Before enrolling at Dalton Kurt had been looking forward to a French class with students that could say more than 'Je m'appelle une baguette avec fromage." and a teacher that could actually correct them without having to ask Google beforehand. But while the faculty of Dalton had proven to be very competent so far Kurt's teacher was conspicuous by its absence. As it turned out Blaine as well as David shared his class both slipping in moments before the gentle jingle of the bell rang out that caused Kurt to flinch. Since there was still no teacher in sight the boys occupied the seats right and left to Kurt.

"Morning, Kurt," greeted Blaine. "I hope you slept well?"

He earned a shy smile in return. "Good morning, Blaine."

"Ooh, a joyful morning to you too, my dear Blaine. How come I never get a greeting so nice?" David mocked.

"Because I don't like you. At all. I'm just keeping you around because of Wes," replied Blaine dead serious.

"Very funny." David gave his best to look affronted and came across looking like an orangutan.

"So, Kurt, tell me, how has Dalton treated you so far?" Blaine asked, ignoring his friend.

"I can't complain. Everybody has been very friendly," answered Kurt, glancing up and catching Blaine's eye for a moment. The boy opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a lanky blond that hopped uninvited onto his table. Still, Blaine did not seem to faced by his actions. The boy grinned, before extending a hand towards Kurt.

"Hey, new boy. My name's Jeff."

Kurt eyed his hand for a moment before gracefully shaking it. "Kurt. Pleased to meet you."

Having done his social obligations justice Jeff turned back to Blaine, pulling his legs up all the way on his table. Just then Kurt noticed that he was not wearing any shoes. Odd.

"So what does the big boss say? Warbler practice this afternoon?" asked Jeff, facing David. Then without giving him a chance to answer he chattered on, "Because I know even though we have this whole democracy-thing going on? The whole council is actually under the thumb of Wes. No chance in denying it! Nevertheless I thought it would be kind of … tough to start the auditions right on our second day of school. Even for Wes. … On second thought that sounds exactly like something Wes would do, but I still hoped-"

"Jeff." A smooth voice interrupted them. "You are babbling again."

"Oh, hey Nick!" Jeff smiled widely at the newcomer. "And I wasn't babbling! … Just giving a very detailed insight on my thoughts."

The boy, Nick as Jeff had provided, just raised an eyebrow. Leaning casually against the side of Blaine's table Kurt could not help but notice the contrast between the two boys. Where Jeff was tall and light-coloured, Nick stood broad-shouldered, gently smoothing back the dark streaks of his straight hair. But at the same time, Kurt thought watching Jeff explaining something with exaggerated hand-gestured while Nick watched amused, their interaction proved a certain dynamic that Kurt could only envy. As if reading his thoughts Nick chose that moment to turn his head and focussed his gaze on Kurt.

"Hello, you must be Kurt. I'm Nick."

Kurt nodded and offered him a small smile. "I'm Kurt, pleasure to meet you."

"So Kurt, you joining us for Warbler practice? Because undoubtedly it will take place sooner or later, thanks to Wes." Jeff had performed a zestful turn on Blaine's table and was facing Kurt.

"I … erm I'm sorry and I may be mistaken, but … isn't a Warbler some kind of bird?"

The four boys looked at each other, before breaking out into gentle laughter. Kurt immediately seemed to shrink in on himself and averted his gaze ashamed. Luckily Blaine was quick to notice their mistake. "Oh no, Kurt don't be embarrassed. "Warbler" is indeed originally the name of a perching bird, but it happens to be also the name of our school's glee club."

"You are all members of the glee club?" Kurt asked curiously, embarrassment forgotten.

"David's even in the council," Blaine answered, nodding. At Kurt's confused look he added, "Instead of being under the supervision of a teacher we democraticly elected a council of three members that decide the most important matters."

Jeff nodded emphaticly. "We didn't know them very well back then. Otherwise we would have never laid our faith in their hands."

David frowned and immediately started to defend his and Wes's honour, while Jeff rolled his eyes dubiously. Kurt watched them with a small smile, catching Blaine's eye, who in return full-out grinned at him. Ignoring the in volume rising argument of his friends he scraped his chair across the floor, closer to Kurt and leaned slightly forward, lowly asking him if he had any interest in capturing a travel agency with him and running off to Mexico. Kurt chuckled silently at that and informed Blaine just as quietly that as tempting at that sounded and even though he himself could come up with a decent knowledge on how to short-circuit a car they still had several class to attend today. Not to mention the terrible loss they would be to the rest of the Dalton students.

When ten minutes later Mme Troyat finally entered the class room everyone immediately silenced and returned to their seats. (Kurt saw Nick slipping into his seat, before handing a worn pair of sneakers to Jeff, who thanked him with a toothy grin and a thumbs-up.) The gaunt woman circuitous excused herself in quiet and broken English, creating patient demanding pauses between every word. Kurt could not take his eyes from her disturbingly long and thin nose that's slightly wet and reddened tip seemed to come closer and closer with every twitch of her head. This lesson promised to be just. Charming.

Kurt had only been at Dalton for two days, but even he could tell something was off during lunch break. When Kurt and Blaine, followed closely by Nick and David, had entered the cafeteria they were greeted with disturbing silence. Even in class Kurt had never seen any of the Dalton boys this quiet. Instead of sitting at their usual tables, chatting animatedly among themselves and maybe starting a food-fight, they were standing together in small groups, occasionally murmuring softly to each other. In front of the students stood, clad in black, Mr. Wright, their headmaster. The last time Kurt had seen him the man had appeared horribly out of place in the majestic wooden chair and his slightly to large grey suit, but his smile had been kind and his handshake warm and firm. Now his posture was even more tense than during their first meeting and his eyes jumped panicky from left to right.

"What happened?" While Kurt had been observing the scene, Blaine had stepped closer to some of the boys. Almost magically a gap appeared between them, giving Blaine the opportunity to slip into their circle effortlessly. Kurt, who had been keeping close to him since Nick and Jeff had disappeared in the crowd soon after their entrance, was left uncertain behind him.

"Wright refused to tell anything specific until everyone has arrived, but judging from his clothes and the dark faces we suspect something serious," answered one of the boys. Kurt was pretty sure he was sitting behind him in his math class, still he could not recall his name. Something starting with W … Winston? Walter? William?

Blaine heaved a deep sigh, lifting a hand to run it through his hair, before changing his mind in the last second probably remembering the truckload of hair products.

"That doesn't sound good at all," he muttered, blinking tiredly before catching sight of Kurt. "Oh, by the way." With a gentle touch to his arm he guided him into the circle. "This is Kurt, the new student."

The boys around nodded briefly at him, before launching back into conversation.

"Do you think there was another threat sent to the school?" Winston? Walter? William? Asked.

"A few weeks ago an anonymous caller contacted the school secretary, threatening to kill everyone leaving the building before noon. It was probably just a prank, but we were locked inside nevertheless and the police tried to track the caller," explained Blaine.

"And why would Wright be wearing black if it's just another menace?" Wes chimed in. He and David had just entered the scene, obviously already well informed.

"So, you think ..." Winston? Walter? William? Left the sentence hanging ominous in the tense air between them. Luckily Mr Wright chose that moment to clear his throat, drawing the attention towards him.

"Dear students, dear faculty." His voice was horse, shaken but loud enough to float even into the furthest corners of the large room. "You are gathered here today, because I as the represent of the Dalton Academy faculty have to convey a sad and shocking message to you. As you all know Mrs. Dearing has been absent during the last few weeks due to her bad health condition. Yesterday at ten p.m. she succumbed to her illness. We were all surprised and shocked when this news reached us this morning. Mrs. Dearing was part of our faculty for over fifteen years and became a dear friend to many of us. Nearly all of you experienced her during class at least once or met her regularly in the corridors. Her sudden death is a great loss for all of us.

The funeral will take place in a few days in the attendance of only the closest family and friends of hers. We are sorry that none of you will have the chance to pay your last respects to her, but as substitution the faculty has organised a prayer in remembrance of Mrs. Dearing. Your attendance will not be required, but welcomed and it will take place tomorrow evening. On behalf of the shaken condition of several of the teachers your afternoon lessons are cancelled. We expect immaculate behaviour during this time and hope that this will be helpful in processing the horrible incident. Thank you for your attention. Consider yourselves dismissed."

With that Mr Wright turned and left the room in numb silence.

The door closed with a deafening thud.

Kurt shuffled restlessly on his feet, while everyone else erupted into quiet murmurs. He felt horribly out of place. Whoever the school was mourning Kurt had not even met them. It felt wrong to be sad about the death of a stranger, but at the same time he was feeling incredibly guilty for not being affected.

"What about you, Kurt?" David snapped Kurt out of his thoughts.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"We were talking about spending our free time in the dorms, watching a movie or something."

Kurt glanced at his watch and shrugged. "My father isn't expecting me home before five o' clock any ways, so I might as well spend the time with something enjoyable"

"Great let's go then." Together they made their way across the room, up the stairs passing Mr. Wilbur's office, before they reached the dorm rooms. The Sophmores occupied a large amount of the third floor and therefore Wes and David quickly slipped into their room to take care of the necessary catering for a successful movie afternoon, while the others followed Blaine to the next door. As Kurt was informed the room originally belonged to Thad and Jeff, but after an ugly incident with the sprinkler system Thad had been banned from the third floor and changed dorms with Blaine who until then had been rooming with Nick.

The room itself was surprisingly large. Apart from two beds and cabinets, a massive wooden desk found its place right next to the wide open window. The simple white wallpaper was nearly invincible due to several pictures, posters and papers pinned to it.

"I didn't even know Mrs. Dearing's sickness was that serious," Blaine said frowning, before sinking onto his desk chair.

"I still can't believe it happened that fast," sighed Jeff.

"Not like it was a great loss for the faculty." Wes, who had just entered, murmured.

"Wes!" Blaine chided.

"What? I already disliked here before she got ill. She was a horrible teacher and everyone here knows it. Why would I change my opinion about her, just because she is dead?"

"It's disrespectful to talk about the dead like that. You wouldn't like someone talking behind your back, would you?"

"It's still my opinion, isn't it? Shouldn't I be allowed to state it no matter how dead the person is?"

"No, because this person isn't able to defend themselves anymore," Blaine bit back, maybe a bit more forceful than he had intended.

Kurt watched the interaction warily. So far the boys around him seemed relaxed and at most a bit bored, but he knew better than anyone how fast a conversation could change from playful to angry.

"We tattle about teachers all the time. It comes with the job and no one complained about it before now." It was Wes's turn again.

"That doesn't make it right."

Wes shrugged and sighed. "I still don't like her. And Nadine agrees with me on the matter."

"Nadine doesn't even know her," Blaine stated unimpressed, while Jeff silently informed a confused looking Kurt that named girl had been Wes's girlfriend for a bit over a year now. Furthermore said girl had not only managed to take up an even bigger part of Wes's heart than his inseparable best friend, but find an equally as nice girl for David too.

"But I … I told her a lot about Mrs. Dearing! And how horrible her teaching was!" Wes defended himself.

"Yeah and I'm sure that was a completely objective insight," David murmured.

With a irritated huff, Wes crossed his arms and pouted at his friends. "What is it today? The we-hate-Wes-festival?"

"Oh, quit sulking," Nick chimed in. The other boys had watched the exchange in silence so far, busying themselves with slouching on Blaine's bed, or on the comfortable carpet with two packets of chips that had appeared from god-knows-where, but now they seemed to have heard enough about the dead's honour. Jeff, who had toed off his shoes as soon as his feet touched the plush carpet, crawled across the floor until he could poke his toes into Nick's thigh.

"Aw, don't be mad, Nicky," he sing-songed. "How about we watch a movie instead?"

That seemed to settle the argument and soon everyone was sprawled across the room, eyes rigidly fixed on the screen of Jeff's laptop, sitting on the top of their desk. At a inviting wave of Blaine's hand, Kurt settled next to him on the floor, backs leaning casually against the side of one of the beds. On the screen one of the first James Bond films played, that Kurt did not bother to remember the name of, which turned out to be a common comfort movie for everyone in the room, as he had to endure the boys around him acting out nearly every scene, underlined with exaggerated hand gestures, dramatic face twisting and obligatory fainting attempts.

It was astonishing, Kurt thought, as he watched Wes and David roll around the room in a ninja-secret-agent-way, how this boys could go from dead serious discussions to clownish dorks in mere seconds. He could not remember an afternoon spend with people of his own gender where he had laughed this much (or eaten that much sweets for that matter), without feeling uncomfortable, or left out for a second.

And when Wes and David plopped down on each of his sides and ensured him that now that he had been part of their annual James Bond afternoon, he would never get rid of them, Kurt secretly thought that he was really okay with that.

* * *

The-power-of-love: Thank you :) And I try, hope you like it!

Cold kagome: Yay for that! Thanks for your review and does your nickname has something to do with Inuyasha? I've read all the mangas some time ago : D

Jadeskye79: There you go! And thank you!

Rooz33: Thank you so, so much for your review. It's the longest I've gotten so far for this story and I love that you put that much thought in it. To your suggestions: A lot of these things are already planned for this story, even though they might be a little bit different than you would imagine them. And of course Kurt has some cat-like-features! They will be explained a bit through the chapters and progress with the story.

Crowned queen of bitchland: First of all, typing your nickname was a lot of fun, because my computer constantly tried to change bitchland into birdcage : D Anyways, thanks so much for your review and I hope you enjoy this chapter. I can promise you that there will be some Niff in the further on Chapters :)


	4. Chapter 3

Update!

A new chapter and slowly the story is progressing and if you're lucky the actual plot will start soon : D So long, enjoy the update and leave a review on your way!

* * *

**~*~ Chapter Three ~*~**

I see the best of me inside your eyes

(Uncle Kracker; Smile)

**Scandal in the Morowin - Family**

_After the sudden death of their youngest daughter Rose, the next tragedy strikes the misfortunate family. A local woman claims Richard Morwin to be the father of her Doghybrid-child. Even though Mr. Morwin denies everything, he had to endure serious setbacks in his fight against the hybrid society. Supporters are afraid that this will endanger the believability of the young politician._

It is the message that shocks a whole nation: Yesterday at 9.14 p.m. the local police received the call of a young woman that sued Mr. Morwin for disowning his own child.

After several attempts of hers to contact him via phone, mail, and even trying to talk to him personally she saw this as her last possible resort, reported the young woman, who wants to stay anonymous so far. What was revealed during this short conversation and not much later published throws back what could have been the perfect career of a so far successful politician.

The women claims to have met Mr. Morwin a few month ago in a well-known bar of hers, where he invited her to several drinks. They saw each other several times after that and a few weeks ago the women has given birth to a little boy. An illegitimate child, while surely everything but honourable, is nothing uncommon in modern times, but what the woman revealed furthermore makes us question Mr. Morwin's sincerity. The women herself is a hybrid. A doghybrid to be exact, one of the same kind Richard Morwin is proceeding against since his youth. This newest revelation could seriously endanger his career and furthermore the future of Bill No.8. Mr. Morwin so far acted as the frontmen for the campaign against the bill and opponent of hybrid rights. Now his future and that of the Bill lays out in the open.

**Reader's Corner**

The latest happenings in the Morwin – Family just show once more how twisted and spurious the whole clan is. How can you expect honesty from a politician that is not even able to be true to his family? Not to mention the fact that he cheated on his wife in the most dishonourable way possible, Richard Morwin violated every value he stands for. The everlasting hate he propagates against Hybrids stands in clear contrast to the fact that he started a romantic relationship with a member of the species he loathes so openly. No wonder he wanted the relationship to stay secret. But now that it is out in the open he is not even brave enough to admit his mistakes! This behaviour is unacceptable and plain cowardly.

* * *

The rest of the week had passed by in a rush of adapting to Kurt's new curriculum, keeping up with the newest Dalton gossip and casual meetings with his new, as well as his old friends. While Kurt went home over the weekend his friends were permanent boarders and therefore enjoyed two quiet days in their dorms, doing homework, or in Wes and David's case doing everything but homework. Monday and Tuesday rolled past in the usual fashion, but on Wednesday morning Kurt woke up to a new text from Blaine asking if he would have time to get some coffee before school. Of course Kurt had time and one hour later the two boys found themselves in the middle of a surprisingly long queue, waiting patiently for their cups to arrive and chatting lightly.

"So, how went the rest of yesterday's evening? Nick told me about a big movie night after Warbler practice that should have happened?", Kurt asked.

"Oh, right, that." Blaine laughed. "We had to cancel it, because Jeff found two packages of marshmallows underneath Nick's bed and a chocolate bar in the kitchen. Then he decided it would be a good idea to pour everything in a big pot and melt it on the stove. Naturally he forgot all about it, after helping Wes to find a lost pen and we spent the rest of the evening scratching burned sugar from kitchen utensils. What about you?"

"Boring, mostly. I got a lot of homework done, but the Dalton curriculum is an all new challenge compared to that at McKinley."

"McKinley … Your old school?"

"Hm? Oh yes. I was sure I had mentioned it before." Their conversation came to a short hold while they payed for their drinks and settled down on a table in the corner.

"Do you miss your old school much?", Blaine asked, slowly stirring his coffee.

Kurt thought about the question for a moment. "Yes and no. I do miss my friends, of course, but apart from that there isn't much at this school worth being sad over."

Blaine frowned into his coffee. "Is that the reason you left?"

"Um, yeah. Kind of." Kurt pressed his lips tightly together, as if to prevent more words from slipping out, eyes sternly fixated on his nervously fiddling fingers.

Blaine seemed to sense his discomfort and quickly changed the topic. "But you do see your friends on the weekends, don't you?"

"Yes, of course. Especially Mercedes and Rachel. Mercedes and I have been best friends since like forever and of course we were both part of the New Directions."

Blaine chocked on his coffee. "Excuse me? You were part of the what?"

"The … oh. The New-di-rec-tions." Kurt emphasized every syllable. "I know the name tends to confuse people, but it is just their school choir."

"So, you sing?"

"Uh, yes?"

"Well, why didn't you say so? You have to join the Warblers! … I mean if you want to, of course. It is completely voluntary. No pressure. Chillax, man."

Kurt raised an eyebrow and giggled. "Actually, I already thought about that, but wanted to wait until I have settled in a bit more."

"Oh, that's absolutely fine. I'm sure Wes and David could arrange an audition for you any time in the year, just not right before Regionals. Wes is very sensitive when it comes to competitions."

"I will keep that in mind. Anyway as I was saying Mercedes is incredible, we had our ups and downs, but now we are inseparable. Just four days ago we fought together in a big shoe sale in the mall."

"Sounds adventurous. What about the other one? Rachel, right?"

"Oh, Rachel. She's ... um Rachel? You can't really describe her. If you ever meet her do not, and I repeat do not mention anything concerning meat, animals, fashion, or eggs."

"Eggs?"

"Long story. It all started about one year ago when she started dating Jesse St. James, the leader of our competing show choir ..."

Blaine leaned back in his chair, smiling fondly while Kurt rambled on about his friends, their complicated and dramatic relationships ever so often having to stop his rant to take a sip from his coffee.

Blaine was pretty sure that he learned more about their competing school choir in the following minutes than he ever could have imagined, let alone remember. But it was fun listening to Kurt's story's reported with a never ending repertoire of sarcasm that could enlighten even the most boring and repeating tale of Rachel and her on- and off-boyfriend Finn.

They had arrived in separate cars, so they did not see each other again before the beginning of the morning assembly. Afterwards they split up, Kurt heading towards AP English, Wes hot on his heels, while Blaine sighed in the prospect of another Honors Psychology lesson.

At one o'clock they met again in the cafeteria, where Wes and David raced each other to the food counter, because apparently four hours without nutriment were way too long. In the end Blaine was the first to get his plate filled, because Wes stumbled over a used napkin and pulled David down with him in the process.

That settled, they had lunch (salad and ciabatta for Kurt, pasta for Blaine and junk-food for Wes and David). When they made their way towards the gym afterwards they came across Nick and Jeff, continuing their path together. It was a sunny mid-october day and the six boys enjoyed the last drops of sunshine, falling into a comfortable silence. After a few minutes they could make out the square outlines of their school's gym, build a little outside the rest of the ground so it would not disturb the panorama view from the visitors lounge but before they even entered the gym Kurt excused himself.

"I just have to talk to our teacher for a bit." Blaine opened his mouth to ask if they should wait for him, but Kurt who must have suspected the question beat him to it.

"You can go ahead. I will join you in a second." And with that he was off, prancing along the corridor towards the sports hall. Blaine frowned, looking after him.

"Stop staring, B," Wes, who noticed his eyes lingering, grinned at him and teasingly nudged his forehead.

"I wasn't-" Blaine protested.

"Just tell him that you think he is beautiful and that you can't take your eyes of him," David added, only half-joking. Ever since they had met the shy boy, Blaine had not stopped talking and wondering about him, keeping his roommate Jeff awake with speculations about his behaviour.

"I don't- Well, I do, but that's really-" Blaine tried again, blushing furiously, before giving up and huffing annoyed. "Oh, shut up," He crossed his arms and let them have a good look at his offended face, before turning and walking into the changing rooms. To his outrage his friends just laughed at him, following closely.

A short time later, after they had changed and stowed their bags into their lockers, the three boys entered the giant sports hall, still teasing and laughing (mostly at Blaine).

"Hey, looks like Mr. Medson is fighting with our new boy." Wes pointed towards Kurt and their teacher, a bald man in his mid-fifties who had once upon a time been very ambitious and passionate about his job, performing at least five different sports in his freetime and demonstrating all their curricular exercises with a strength and grace that made every student pale. About a year ago though he crashed into a group of trees with his mountain bike, broke his hip, at his age a very serious injury and therefore applied for an early pension at the school board. Due to the lack of sport teachers though he was committed to continue teaching. Even before the accident Mr. Medson had not been the most pleasant person to be around, strict and often quite cruel criticizing his students hardly, but now having taken away the opportunity to perform any sports at all he loathed every hour at his workplace with an everlasting passion.

Concerned Blaine looked over to where Mr. Medson and Kurt were apparently arguing over something.

"Do you think he needs our help?" he asked.

David shrugged. "You are his knight in shining armour. It's your decision."

Blaine rolled his eyes, turning his head once more just to see Kurt suddenly storming of towards the changing rooms.

"Should I...?"

"Go on," murmured Wes, before pushing him forward. Quickly Blaine ran out of the hall, reaching Kurt as he was to enter the changing rooms.

"Hey," he muttered. "You alright?"

Huffing piqued, Kurt send him one of his deathliest glares. "Do I look alright?"

Blaine crossed his arms defensively and simply raised an eyebrow at him.

"... I'm sorry." Kurt heaved a long sigh. "I didn't mean to snap at you, but Mr. Medson is just so ..."

"... stubborn?" Blaine suggested.

"I was more going for narrow minded asshole, but I guess that works as well."

"What happened?"

With a frustrated sigh Kurt pushed back a strand of his hair that had escaped its product-prison.

"It's … nothing. Mr. Medson just forces me to take part in the lesson."

Frowning Blaine asked, "Why wouldn't you?"

Suddenly Kurt looked cautious. "Um- there is just- this … erm, well basically I have some problems with my health and therefore my doctor suggested I shouldn't participate in sport activities.

At my old school that wasn't a problem. We were lucky if our teacher showed up at all and the gym class was voluntary, so nobody cared if I had an attestation, or not."

"But Mr. Medson does," Blaine concluded. During his friends little rant they had entered the changing room and sat down on one of the wooden benches. When Kurt nodded, Blaine eyed him worried. "It's not dangerous for you, is it? Taking part in the lesson? Because if it seriously endangers your health I'm sure I could talk to Mr. Medson once more. Or ask Jeff to do it. Mr. Medson kind of likes him, because he is the only one who is able to climb to the top of the ropes."

A small smile graced Kurt's face at this, but his shoulders slumped defeated. "No, that's fine. I'm just going to change and try to survive it." He grimaced, gently hugging himself. Blaine's heart swelled with protectiveness for the boy.

Ever since the incident on Kurt's first day Blaine had been extremely careful when it came to touching him. Originally Blaine had not been a very tactile person. His parents raised him in an air of polite interest, never expecting a second child, after having Blaine's brother six years ago. They were never unfriendly, or uncomfortable around him, but with two full-time jobs there was little time for an unplanned child and apart from his nanny's occasionally hugs and kisses Blaine grew up quite isolated. So it was no surprise that Blaine never considered himself someone who needed or even craved constant touching. He had grown up nearly without it and done just fine, hadn't he?

However this changed quickly when he entered first grade and met the love of his life. Well, maybe not of his live but at least of his kindergarten time. His name was Joshua – my friends call me Josh - and he has the most beautiful smile Blaine had ever seen. So Blaine did what he always did when it came to his love life: He fell hard and fast, from his first day on worshipping him from afar until a life-changing day during his second week when they were the only ones left in the lego-corner and Josh had asked him on his opinion on his block-tower. Blaine was floating on cloud nine. After that they were inseparable. Well, at least Blaine was inseparable from Josh and he discovered that yes, when it came to the right person he could indeed be considered very tactile. Nothing would illuminate his day like the accidental brush of their arms, or the few seconds Blaine was able to get a hold of his hand, before Josh snapped it away.

Their young love received a slight damper when Josh pushed him off the swings two days later and called him a 'clingy idiot'. However after Blaine got over his broken heart, destroying bag after bag of gummy bears in the process, he had finally time to enjoy the rest of his kindergarten time without distraction and even made a lot of friends – all of them girls – in the process.

Today most of his friends had become used to the slight touches and occasional cuddling from his side and if they had not Blaine very quickly stopped referring to them as his friends. With Kurt however Blaine had been trying hard to keep the physical contact to a minimum and apart from occasionally not-so-accidental brushes of their arms his plan had been working quite well.

But right now the boy looked so lost that all Blaine wanted to do was hug him, or at least take his hand, until the seemingly imprinted frown on his forehead would vanish and his eyes started shining again like they did when he was laughing, or- _Wait. Since when was he memorising what his eyes look like? Maybe Wes and David were right and he was coming on a bit too strong. After all he did not even know if the boy was gay. He should seriously tone it down, before he scared him off … _

"Blaine? Are you alright? You kind of zoned out there."

"What? Oh, sorry. I was just … thinking."

Kurt gave him a 'You don't say'- look. "What about?"

"Erm ..." _You. _"Just that you still appear so troubled and if there's anything I could do to make it better?"

A surprised laugh escaped the other boys mouth. "That's … very sweet of you." He smiled warmly at him, before he hesitantly reached out, lightly touching his forearm and after Blaine made no move to pull away, resting his hand there. "Thank you."

Blaine held his gaze, returning his smile. "You are welcome."

From outside they heard a muffled crash that made them realise that they still had a lesson to attend. Kurt retreated his hand with a slight blush on his checks.

"Erm … right I should change and … go back into the hall."

Blaine tried to hide the massive grin that threatened to overtake his features. "Want me to wait for you?"

Good-naturedly Kurt rolled his eyes at him. "I am indeed capable of finding the hall myself, thank you, Blaine."

"Okay, okay." He held up his hands in appeasement, before waving and turning towards the door. "I will see you in a bit."

"Alright folks, gather 'round," Mr Medson called across the hall the moment Blaine entered.

"As you all know, something like a teaching schedule exists at this school that we have to follow. Like every year this schedule also includes a six week period of gymnastics."

The students around him groaned. "I know, I know, but it's not me who creates the schedules so stop whining and get going! The gymnastic equipment is not going to set itself up!"

Grumbling the boys around him dispersed, as slowly as possible wandering towards the devices.

"God dammit, Prestley if you don't get a move on someone is going to stumble over you!", Mr. Medson howled at a gigantic boy that was especially dawdling.

"How nice of you to finally join us, Hummel!" Kurt who had been trying to sneak into the hall as discretely as possible, froze mid-move.

"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Medson, but I had to change and-" He gestured to his grey sweatpants and the wide Dalton shirt.

"Save it! I'm not really interested in any of your false excuses."

"But you just told me-"

"I said 'Save it', didn't I?"

Kurt opened his mouth like he was going to argue again, but closed it again, lips tightly pressed together, posture tense. "What he says doesn't even makes sense," he mumbled under his breath.

In the meantime the rest of the students had set-up a wide variety of gymnastic equipment, including a balance beam, high bars on several levels and a long series of mats for floor gymnastics. Mr. Medson had retreated into a corner, slouched casually on a wooden bench, a cup of coffee in the right and his grade book in the left hand.

"Oh, are we doing gymnastics?", asked Kurt interested, while picking uncomfortable at his wide sweatpants. Wes nodded sullenly.

"Sweet", he exclaimed, earning disbelieving glances all around.

"No Kurt, I think you misunderstood. We ..." David motioned to him and his friends. "Are forced to humiliate and ridicule ourselves, cricking our arms and legs in absolutely unnatural angles and getting the worst grades for abilities we are never ever going to need in real life."

"Oh, now you are exaggerating. Gymnastics can be fun." Wes pretended to shoot himself and fainted mock-dead into David's arms.

As it turned out Kurt had been right. At least particularly since Kurt seemed to be a natural on the balance beam, jumping and turning like he was walking on air. Even Mr. Medson looked impressed and condescended himself to leave his bench and get a closer look at the boy. During the next hour more and more boys gathered around, shouting encouragements, betting on Kurt's grade and silently discussing his techniques. By the end of the lesson the other devices were deserted and instead of working everyone was sitting casually around the balancing beam, chatting among themselves. Mr. Medson seemed to come to the conclusion that this lesson was a lost cause, so he send them back to the changing rooms, accompanied from some good-natured grumbling.

"Wow, Kurt. That was really impressive," complimented Blaine, carefully nudging his shoulder. To his delight the other boy just blushed.

"Ah, I – um have always been very flexible?" he murmured, gently picking at his wide shirt that was hanging loosely on his small frame.

Meanwhile the swarm of students had flooded them into the changing rooms, where a bunch of boys were already loudly fighting over a pair of socks.

Kurt seemed suddenly a bit uneasy, shuffling from feet to feet and shooting nervous glances at the casually undressing boys.

"Hey new boy, pass me my shirt?" shouted Jeff from the other side of the room, gesturing wildly towards a white dress shirt to Kurt's feet.

"Sure ..." he murmured, passing Jeff the shirt and quietly asking himself how on earth it had ended up down there. Then his eyes fell on his clock and widened panicky.

"Sorry boys, but I really have to hurry now. I promised my father to go grocery shopping before dinner." Kurt shouldered his bag and waved one last time at his baffled friends. "See you tomorrow."

* * *

**Inkonmyheartandonthepage**: Thank you so much :) I hope you enjoy the update!

**The-power-of-love**: I'm glad you're enjoying this :) And thank you for the constant reviews :)

**ZomePeople13**: Thank you, thank you, thank you!

**Cold kagome:** Yeah, Kurt deserves some kind of friendliness … I liked the animes as well, but they invented so many story lines as filler episodes that I started to get confused what was canon ...

**rooz33**: ^.^ I took it as a compliment and I'm so happy that you like the story so much! And don't worry, I do the exact same thing when I read stories I like. That's kind of why I write fanfiction : D And for what will happen to the Hybrids in the end you will just have to continue reading ;)

**hlc2395**: Of course there will be Klaine! Klaine all the way! It just progresses a bit … slowly … but I hope you enjoy the update :)


	5. Chapter 4

I originally intended to post this chapter on Saturday to keep up an two-weeks-posting-shedule, but

but then I became really unsure if this would be the right time for fanfiction. Would I want to write during the next time and would you even want to read? Then I came across a post on tumblr that discussed just this dilemma and there was a quote in there that really got to me:

"An artist died, so make art." I have no idea who I'm quoting right now, but I realised just how right this sounds. Besides I think we could all use a little distraction right now.

So, here you go with what I originally intended to be the authors note:

Another chapter, from Kurt's pov this time. As you may have noticed the insight changes with every chapter and I hope it doesn't confuse you. You can look forward to some Hummel-interaction and new characters appearing.

So thank you for all the lovely reviews, nothing is able to motivate me more :)

* * *

**Miley Cyrus fighting for Hybrids**

_The young celebrity publishes music video to show her support for Bill No. Eight_

Miley Cyrus, a twenty year old singer and actress, formerly known for her role as 'Hannah Montana' in the homonymous show threw people's minds upside down with publishing her new music video. The original release date for her newest single 'Can't be tamed' had been scheduled for the beginnings of August, but the newest revelations concerning Hybridsrights forced her to reshedule. Within the first hours of release her music video hit over ten thousands views (The link can be found here → vimeo dot com slash 12138523) and led to heated discussions among politcians and public. In the video Cyrus presents the difficulties of a Hybridlife, harshly criticises public reactions to them and emphasizes with the isolation the minorities have to endure.

The performance was met with negative reactions from the media and was describes as overly dramatic and far from realistic. Cyrus stated, "It is ridiculous that the media can't accept an opinion that is different from their own. I really hope my fans are not disappointed in me because the truth is I did nothing wrong. I got up there and did my job which is to perform to the best of my ability."

It's as simple as she sings it and to quote her newest song lyrics:

[…] I can't be changed  
I can't be tamed

Well I'm not a trick you play  
I'm wired a different way  
I'm not a mistake, I'm not a fake  
It's set in my DNA

Don't change me […]

* * *

**~*~ Chapter Four ~*~**

And I love you […]

For staying back and watching me shine  
(Taylor Swift; The best day)

Slowly Kurt was falling into an easy routine. Every morning he would wake up, get ready for school, lecture his dad about burning down the kitchen in an attempt to cook, bake, or god beware fry something and enjoy the two hours drive singing along to Broadway-soundtracks, before he reached the Dalton parking lot, where Blaine and his favourite coffee already awaited him.

Wes and David had declared it their new life goal to make Kurt their 'bestestest friend 4evertogether'© and occupied his breaks, afternoons and to the everlasting distress of his teachers also his classes. Somehow they had gotten his cellphone number (Kurt suspected Blaine being the traitor and precautionary shot him his deadliest glare) and during the weekend and the obligatory sleep-over with friends from his old school, William McKinley High, his phone had not stopped vibrating once. It had gotten so far that Santana, a proud Latina, whose brash remarks even beat Kurt's, had tried to drown it in a glass of apple juice. Luckily Kurt had been able to prevent that by fighting her hand back with a gummy bear - which expanded into a massive food-fight, claiming several of Kurt's belongings it's victim. Unfortunately the doors of his wardrobe had still been open from the make-over they had given Rachel Berry, another girl around Kurt's age with an exceptional singing voice, but sadly not nearly as exceptional fashion sense, and a large part of his clothing had been bathed in chips, chocolate and cookies.

Kurt had nearly fainted when he had gone to grab his pyjamas a little later. But after a short course in breathing techniques from Quinn, who had been a voluntary paramedic once, and an offer of a salt shaker from Brittany, because he looked 'a little green around the gills', he had been quick to reassure his friends that everything was fine. Also it did not hurt that the girls pampered him with sweets and hugs the rest of the evening to make up for it. Still, after they had left the next day Kurt spend the rest of his weekend with resuscitation measures, sewing and knitting like a madman and silently cursing Wes and David for their horrible timing.

This was also the reason why when school started on Monday Kurt shot them instead of a greeting his deadliest glare, before stalking of towards his first class, a confused Blaine hot on his heels. It took them two whole days to figure out why Kurt was mad at them and more importantly how they could avoid and sooth his wrath (much to Blaine's amusement, who enjoyed the whole encounter with a bag of popcorn). So Wednesday, right before lunch, Kurt found himself grabbed right and left, trapped between the boys and manoeuvred into an empty classroom.

In his endless magnanimity Kurt forgave them (not before they had begged several times for said generous forgiveness) , under the condition that they would limit their contact to one text message the day and one call per week, unless they had to discuss something really important.

That settled a reassured Kurt made his way home on Friday afternoon. Silently humming he opened his front door, kicking of his shoes and made his way across the floor. He was still dressed in sweatpants and his sport shirt, since changing with the others was out of question after their gymlessons. His Dad had thrown a fit after Kurt had told him about the debacle with Mr. Medson last week, calling the school's principle immediately and demanding an explanation. Mr Wright had explained very patiently that while he was very sorry for eventual bad vibrations between Mr. Medson and his students, the Dalton Academy guidelines strictly required a medical certificate before allowing the students the nonparticipation in one of the lessons. Disgruntled Burt had given in, assuring Mr. Wright that he would take care of the problem. Two days later, as promised his father made an appointment with Doctor Leyfert, a competent physician that was secretly known for his tolerance of hybrid patients. Unfortunately, due to his popularity Doctor Leyfert's abilities were highly demanded among hybrid, as well as human patients and therefore the appointment was not for another two weeks. Until then Kurt would have to take part in the sport lessons like every normal teenager and make up a list of excuses as to why his pants had to stay strictly on in the changing rooms.

* * *

"Kurt? Could I talk to you for a second?" The voice of his father snapped him out of his thoughts and with a last wishful glance in the direction of his room, he followed the noise into the kitchen.

"Sounds serious," Kurt murmured, while entering and sitting down across from his father on the kitchen table. "But nothing looks broken", he added thoughtfully, after inspecting his surroundings closely for a moment.

"Very funny," Burt grunted. "How was school?"

"Fine, I guess. We're still doing gymnastics and Mr. Medson seems to be quite impressed by my skills."

Instead of looking proud, his father just frowned. "You are taking care of yourself, aren't you? Not too much movement and after class you come straight home, before anyone can ask any questions about you never changing with the others, right?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. Of course he knew his father was right, pointing out the high risks excessive bouncing and skipping had on his covering, but during the past few days they had barely talked about anything else and not a day had passed without his Dad reminding him to be even more careful than usually. As if Kurt would just wait for an opportunity to present his differences to the world.

"Of course, Dad," he rattled of, before quickly changing the topic. "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

His father cleared his throat meaningful. "Well, there is something I need to tell ya'. As you know I have been often gone during the last few weeks and I must admit I haven't always been honest with you about my whereabouts."

Kurt raised an eyebrow, but kept silent.

"I … kind of have been seeing someone."

Kurt's other eyebrow raised as well and he had to press his lips tightly together to stop himself from making any sound.

"For two months now."

"Two months? Two months?!" Kurt could barely believe what he was hearing. "Why haven't you told me, Dad? Who is it? Do I know her?"

"Whoa, calm down, bud." Burt raised his hands in appeasement, but a small smile was playing around his lips. "It's kind of a long story actually: A few month ago I had to get a receipt from Doctor Leyfert and while I waited for him to arrive one of the nurses, Carole, kept me company. In the end I gave her my number, didn't expect her to actually call, but well, a few days later she is on the phone and asks me out on a date. Just like that, out of the blue. I didn't know what to say at first, but well I really liked her, so one thing lead to another and before I know it, we are sitting in the back of a little restaurant, holding hands." Kurt 'uhued' quietly. "After that we met several times and well, now we decided it was time for the next step."

"Oh my god. She is pregnant, isn't she?"

"No, actually-"

"You are getting married?"

"What? No, Kurt listen-"

"Oh god, please tell me you didn't decide to let her move in with us, because I am not ready to share my wardrobe space yet." His father crossed his arms, patiently waiting for Kurt to finish his rant.

"Am I allowed to speak now?" When Kurt pretended zip his lips shut, he continued, "Actually we just decided that it was time to tell our children about us and let them meet."

"Does that mean I get to meet her? Wait a second … Why child_ren_?" Kurt asked.

"Carole's got a son, too. They are both coming over for Dinner tonight and don't worry she knows about my cooking abilities and volunteered to prepare food."

Kurt stayed silent for a moment, brow furrowing. "Tonight? As in … today? In a few hours?"

"Uh, yes."

"And you couldn't have at least told me before?"

"I just did, didn't I? You still got over an hour to get ready. Listen, if this is about you not having enough time to chose the right outfit-"

"This is not about some stupid clothing problem, Dad. This is about the fact that I would have liked to have a little time to prepare mentally, before meeting your new girlfriend and her son!"

"I really don't see the problem here. It's not that big of a deal."

"Of course it is a big deal! You haven't brought another woman here, since ..." _Since Mom. _

His father's face softened. "I know. Believe me, I know. Don't you think I'm nervous too? But Carole and I decided this to be the best way. I'm sure you will love her and she is going to love you. Don't worry." Burt sighed deeply, before pulling his son into his arms for a second. Kurt closed his eyes, enjoying the familiar scent of his father's aftershave, only slightly covered up by sweat and gas.

"Okay, Dad. I trust you. I'm downstairs changing. Call me, when they arrive?" Kurt was already halfway down the stairs, when he remembered something. "Oh, hey Dad. One more thing? Does she know?" he asked unconsciously touching one of his ears, covered with hair. "About me?"

"The moment I mentioned my last name she knew." His father smiled gently at him.

"That's … good I guess. Prevents a lot of problems. You'll call me in a few?"

"Of course, bud. Love you."

Kurt smiled, turning around. "Love you too, Dad."

When two minutes later the doorbell rang, Burt practically sprinted towards the door, reaching it just a heartbeat earlier than his son and swinging it open. On their porch stood two figures, one scaringly tall, or maybe he only appeared that way compared to the compact woman next to him. The first thing Kurt noticed of his father's new girlfriend was her wide and loving smile, as she greeted Burt almost shyly, willingly accepting the gentle kiss he pressed on her cheek. Her eyes fell on Kurt next and if possible her smile widened even more.

"You must be Kurt, dear. Your Dad told me so much about you," she exclaimed, her voice a touch too loud and the handshake a bit too loose, but Kurt blamed that on the nerves and her eyes shined earnest and hopeful.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Carole." Kurt tried his best to smile welcoming at her, squeezing her hand gently, before turning towards the boy behind her, mouth already opened to form a greeting, but instead: "Finn?"

Right behind Carole stood Finn Hudson, McKinleys star-quarterback and bactrian camel extraordinary. Despite that, there probably was not a boy more popular than him. On top of the food-chain, as Kurt liked to call it and he had been one of Kurt's greatest tormentors, before Mr. Shue had forced him to join the Glee club for a short while. During that time he had caused great trouble between Quinn and Rachel, both wooing for his attention and after a lot of break-ups, get-back-togethers and relationship-breaks, Kurt had not really been able to keep track until a legendary fight with his now ex-girlfriend had settled the problem. Afterwards Finn had left the glee club and returned to being the famous football-star. The only thing that changed after that, apart from his facebook-relationship-status was that he stopped bullying Kurt. Oh, that did not by any means include Finn protecting him or telling his friends to back off. He just stopped acknowledging Kurt's existence in general, which was barely any better.

"Eer, um ...Kurt? What are you doing at my mom's boyfriend's home?" Oh, and did he mention it? Probably not the smartest crayon in the box.

"You know each other?" Carole looked surprised between them.

"We … go to McKinley together and Finn was part of the glee club. For a short while."

"Oh, that's just wonderful," Carole gushed. "Burt and I were so worried about you two meeting, but if you already are friends ..."

Finn's smile turned a bit pained. "I wouldn't exactly say we are friends ..." he murmured, avoiding his mother's eyes.

"But you never know, right?" Kurt smiled a touch too widely, before gesturing towards their guests. "But don't just stand there on the porch. Do come in, make yourself a home."

As promised Carole had prepared Dinner for them, neatly packed in Tupperware she presented Salad, Pasta, a wonderful smelling sauce and a bright variety of spices. Kurt and Carole took it upon themselves to serve the food, dispensing it onto different plates and bowls, until they were able to warm everything up in the microwave. The hot dishes were left on the kitchen board for a moment, waiting for them to cool and in the meantime Carole made it her goal to spice the sauce to perfection. They were nearly finished and Kurt decided it was time to carry their food into the living room.

For a moment he forgot about Carole next to him, piling plate after plate on his hands, shoulder and elbows, holding them up effortlessly due to his cat-like balance. Only when Carole turned around and nearly dropped the bowl in her hand Kurt stopped and froze. For a moment they stared at each other, before the woman seemed to shake herself out of her rigidity.

"Well, now I really wish some hybrid instincts for my son, too. We would certainly have a lot more intact dishes if that was the case," she stated.

Relieved, Kurt exhaled, smiling at her. Since his father had told him where he had met Carole, Kurt had suspected that she knew about his abilities, but until now he could not have been sure how she would react to an actual display of his otherness. Together they carried their dinner into the living room.

Burt and Finn were already seated, talking quietly among themselves about something Kurt could only guess, that had to do with sports. For a moment he felt hot jealousy creeping up his spine as he saw the two so at ease and comfortable around each other, but then his father looked up and upon seeing him and Carole working together, he send his son a proud and thankful smile. Soothed Kurt distributed the plates and bowls in his hands

"Dude you have some sick kind of balance. That's kind of really cool, but also really creepy!" Finn exclaimed, after staring at Kurt for a good few seconds.

"... Thanks, Finn, I guess."

Conversation flooded nicely during dinner. Burt and Carole mostly talked about their workplaces, trading stories about their most horrific customers and sharing cute little smiles and shy glances over the table. Everybody laughed about Kurt's anecdotes about his new teachers, and even Finn amused them with the newest McKinley-stories.

At the end of the day Kurt decided that he really liked Carole. Finn still behaved a bit reserved and awkward around him, but he seemed to get along with his father and like he was a generally gentle soul, so Kurt thought that they would warm up to each other fairly quickly.

He could not have been more wrong.

* * *

Cold kagome: In this situation it was understandable … but yeah, nobody likes sport teachers.

Urmeline: Test, test, 123. Danke, ich hab auch eine tolle Beta ;)

Gold converse: Thank you so much :)

DearDarkHeart: First of all: I can't even describe how grateful I'm that you took the time to write me such a lovely and long comment :) It honestly made my day, so thank you very, very much. To the Hybrids-politics: Before starting a story I generally research a lot of background information, so I thought, why not share it with you through newspaper arcticles? The idea of an alternate world where Hybrids exist and life among us, fascinates me and it's so much fun to imagine people's reactions, positive and negative. I hope you liked the article in this chapter and I would really recommend to watch the video, because it's scarringly fitting. Enough of my babbeling now, I hope you continue reading and enjoying the story and thanks again for your review :)

The-power-of-love: Indeed … but things are looking up for them.

Theunicorn33: He actually doesn't yet, but a guy can hope, right ;) And sooner or later Blaine is going to find out, don't worry

2people: Thank you :)

Lydia: Thanks! But you might have to wait a bit for that ;) Who knows?

Guest: I appreciate this so much!

ZomePeople13: I'm glad to hear this :D


	6. Chapter 5

So, I know, I know I promised an update every two weeks, but I wasn't in town (at least not in mine) the last week and this Chapter was especially difficult to write. It touches some very sensitive subjects, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

**Warnings **forHybridphobia

* * *

**~*~ Chapter Five ~*~**

We'll show the world they were wrong

(Nickelback; If everyone cared)

**Massacre in Texas – Wolfhybrid Runs Amok and Kills fifteen Students**

Hundreds of people on the street, holding placates and banners, candles flickering in the dusty wind. What looks like dying remains of a giant demonstration, reminds of the tragedy that happened in a little, traditional town in Texas. Yesterday at about nine o' clock stormed Blake Adams, a sixteen-year-old Wolfhybrid the local elementary school, armed with two guns from his father. He infiltrated through the school gate into the separate class rooms, shooting apparently aimless and shouting violently. Teachers as well as students panicked and tried to escape, only very few of them possesed the intellectual perceptiveness to barricade themselves in their class rooms. The catastrophy lasted over twenty minutes until the police, that a concerned neighbour had alarmed was able to stop the murderer. Twenty minutes full of anxiety and fear, not knowing how many of them would survive. This was enough for Blake Adams to shoot over eight children between the age of five and eight, the forty-five year old art teacher and to injure their janitor deadly. He and twenty other students and teachers had to be transported to the hospital, where they were thoroughly medically checked. The motives of the offender remain unclear so far. Blake lived since his birth in the town, visiting the elementary school with the rest of the students and had been currently absolving his Sophmore year in the local High School. During the next few days he will be presented to the national court, where the judges will decide about his future.

Family and friends are clueless what could have triggered the young men to such a tragic act and the only explanation his mother Veronica Adams, 43 can find is in his genes. "I'm sure he didn't mean to kill so many people, but you can't fight your genes forever and sooner, or later with that dangerous gene in him he couldn't control his urges anymore." His father adds to this, "Blake has always been a very vocal and aggressive child. We thought we could change that with strict education, but in the end his instincts were too strong."

These statements shed new light on our understanding of the hybrid society. If they are really just animals, fighting their instincts, how safe is the rest of us?

* * *

"Damn Hybrids."

"Excuse me?!"

They were sitting at the breakfast table on Saturday morning. One week after their first visit Carole had come over as a surprise for Burt, bringing buns from the nearby bakery and soon all four of them were seated around the kitchen table, buttering bread and silently sipping their orange juice. After a quick greeting Burt had disappeared into the living room, mumbling something about an important phone call he had to make. Finn had used his absence to steal his left-over toast and catch a look at the newspaper, reading with furrowed brow.

"Come on, this damn hybrids have been silently endangering us for years now. It was just a question of time before one of them would leash out."

"There have been humans running amok about a million times and nobody dares to equate one madman with his whole species." Kurt crossed his arms defensive, ears twitching angrily under his hair. Carole looked nervously from her son to Kurt, but does not dare to interrupt just yet.

"But it's different with hybrids," Finn tried to explain, like everybody should know that and god, Kurt how can you be so naïve? "Everybody knows they are dangerous."

"How? How does 'everybody' know this? Have their been any studies, or proofs?"

"No, but-"

"It is no wonder that hybrids are considered dangerous when everyone is treating them like damn animals!"

"But in the end that's what they are, isn't it? I mean they look like them, behave like them. Everybody knows they are just freaks."

Kurt loses it. "God, how can you be so stupid? They aren't freaks, just because they are different!" he screams, causing the other boy to rise his voice as well.

"Well, this is rich coming from someone like you. Birds of a feather flock together, right?"

Kurt gasped silently at him. "Finn Hudson, I pray to whoever is out there that you did not mean that in the way I understood it."

Finn's posture seemed to falter slightly and he gestured nervously, trying to defend his point. "I'm just saying that it's no wonder you protect them, when everybody calls them freaks. Because in the end you are one your-"

"Finn!" Carole exclaimed horrified.

"But it's true! Everybody says that! And it's no wonder if he runs around like that." He gestured helplessly towards Kurt's yoga-like posture, his elegant clothing and carefully styled hair. Carole opens her mouth in protest, but a stern voice from the kitchen door interrupts her.

"Get. Out." Burt, who had just re-entered the kitchen and must have listened to the last few sentences, stood tall and broad in front of Finn, arms crossed, jaw set.

"What?"

"I will not allow anyone in this house to talk to my son like that! Not. Ever!"

"Burt-"

"No, Carole. I'm sorry, but I think it would be best if you both left now." Kurt watched rigidly as his father escorted them towards the exit, silently bidding Carole goodbye and glaring at Finn until he closed the door behind them. He stood there for a moment, shoulders slumped, before he turned back to his son.

"Are you okay?," Burt asked quietly.

"I'm … I just need some time alone," he whispered, standing up, but his father is not about to let him go just yet.

"Are you sure, because-"

"I will be downstairs," Kurt stopped him sternly, back still turned and stiffly making his way out of the kitchen.

He did not manage to hold back the tears until he reached the safety of his own room, but at least the first drop only managed to escape his eye after he had turned. Head held high he teetered down the stairs, careful not to give anything away by shaking shoulders, or erratic breathing.

"You will tell me if I can do anything, right?" His father called after him.

It took good four seconds and a few deep breaths, before he could answer without his voice breaking "Of course."

Very slowly and with shaking hands he closed his bedroom door, sinking to the floor the moment his hand left the door handle. His whole body started shacking with sobs and he had to press both hands to his mouth to keep himself from making any noises.

He sat there crying until his knees started hurting and his face felt gross, because his tears eventually mixed with snot. Slowly he probed himself up, wavering towards his bed and the box of tissues he kept on his nightstand and upon reaching it blewing his nose as silently as possible. Until then his sobs had subsided and only occasional single tears were rolling down his cheek, dropping on the mattress beneath him.

Suddenly his phone vibrated, signalling the arrival of an incoming text.

**Are we still on for today? Movie and snacks? I risked my life in order to steal the whole floors Disney collection, don't let me down now. - B**

_Shit, I completely forgot about that. Would it be okay if we postponed it for the time being? I'm not exactly feeling like leaving the house right now. - K_

**Why? Is something wrong?** **- B**

… _Can I call you? - K_

Only seconds later Kurt's phone started vibrating, playing the familiar tune of Lady Gaga's 'Telephone'. He had found the song oddly fitting as a ringtone.

"Didn't I wrote that **I** would call?"

"It seemed easier this way. So spill, what's up?"

"Nothing, as I said, I just … don't feel like watching a movie today."

"There must be something seriously wrong if you don't feel like Disney."

Kurt resisted the temptation to roll his eyes and sighed instead defeated.

"Fine, you remember I told you about meeting my father's girlfriend last weekend?"

"Carole, right? And her son Finn?"

"Yeah. Finn." Kurt spoke the word with so much venom, that Blaine felt a cold chill run down his spine.

"What happened?"

"He and Carole came over for breakfast today and we started talking about the massacre in Texas. It escalated pretty quickly, because Finn is a dumb idiot, who isn't able to do anything but parrot everything he hears on the television, and I am not."

Blaine chuckled quietly and Kurt found himself smiling as well, despite the situation.

"Anyway, he said some very ugly things and I said some very ugly things and in the end my Dad kicked him out. It's not that big of a deal, but-"

"It sounds like it's a very big deal to you."

Kurt was speechless for a moment, phone clutched tightly to his ear. "Yeah … yeah, I mean I really try to not let it get to me, but ... I … I just. Great, now I'm crying again. Damn that idiot."

He heard Blaine taking a deep breath on the other end of the phone. "Okay, here is the plan: Give me five minutes to slip into my shoes and grab my coat. I will be over in an hour."

"What? Blaine, no you really shouldn't – That wasn't what I – And what do you mean; An hour? You need at last one and a half until you reach Lima!"

"See you in a bit."

"Don't you dare hanging up on me, Blaine Devo- Oh, wonderful. I hope you die in a car accident! Stupid, stupid, sweet idiot."

Why did this boy have to be so damn concerned about everybody? Sure during the last few weeks he and Kurt had spend a lot of time together and slowly a very tentative friendship was forming between them, but Kurt could not help to be still wary around him. It all just seemed far too … perfect. The handsome young gentleman noticing the shy new boy in his first day of school and befriending him afterwards? Things like this just did not happen in real life. Much more likely was that Blaine saw him as nothing more than a charity case he felt the obligation to help, or a mystery that he wanted to solve. But still … so far the other boy had been nothing but friendly towards him, never pushing conversation topics Kurt clearly was uncomfortable with and doing everything to charm his pants of. And he did not even seem to realise just how much every word, every touch and every smile meant to Kurt ... even though it should not. First of all he did not even know if Blaine was really gay. Sure he suspected it, but he had learned the hard way never to assume. And even if … if Blaine ever found out about him he would lose every chance he had with the boy anyway.

When Blaine arrived exactly one hour and forty-five minutes later Kurt had just been able to destroy any proof of his emotional breakdown and fixing his appearance to the point that his tail and ears were strictly hidden.

"I hate you," Kurt greeted him politely upon opening the door. He had silently slipped past his father, when he had heard Blaine's car pulling into their driveway and managed to open the door just before Blaine could ring.

"A wonderful Sunday morning to you too," Blaine grinned right back at his dark face. "May I come in?"

Kurt sighed and stepped aside, silently watching as Blaine neatly placed his shoes behind the door and hung up his coat. Underneath he was wearing a baggy Dalton pullover and a simple pair of jeans and Kurt realised that this must be the first time he saw him out of uniform. It suited him. Especially because a few of his natural curls had escaped their gel-prison and were bouncing happily up and down with every move he made, giving him the adorableness of an excited little animal. Realising that he was staring Kurt quickly blinked himself out of his trance.

"Would you like something to eat or drink?" he asked, while leading his guest down the stairs and into his room.

"Nah, I just ate breakfast." Blaine's eyes widened when they entered the large basement, furnished and decorated carefully by Kurt himself. "Wow. This room is … wow." Mouth slightly opened Blaine turned around slowly, until his eyes fell on Kurt and his face turned serious.

"So ..." He studied him closely. "You didn't sound very good on the phone."

"Yeah, I know," murmured Kurt in a 'Thanks-Captain-Obvious'-tone, before flopping down on his neatly made bed. Blaine, who was still awkwardly standing in the middle of the room, tried to decide where it was appropriate for him to sit and send help seeking looks towards Kurt, but the boy was too busy picking at the cushions and avoiding his gaze, so in the end he settled on the black desk chair, carefully rolling closer.

"I'm … not very good at this," Blaine admitted quietly, after a short while. "Comforting people and all that … I never know what to say."

"That's fine. I'm not very good at being comforted either," he answered softly. "But thank you for trying."

Blaine's face lit up. "Anytime. Are you going to tell me what happened, now?"

"You already know the basics. We had different opinions, we fought, Finn was being an idiot and then he called me a -"

"A what?"

"He called me a freak," Kurt said very, very quietly.

"He called you a what?!" Blaine growled. Literally growled and if Kurt had not been so close to tears he probably would have thought of it as quite sexy, but at the moment it only made him shrink back into himself even more. "Right, crap, sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you, but … that asshole! No wonder your Dad kicked him out."

"He even yelled at Carole because of it," Kurt sniffed silently. "Because of me."

"Oh Kurt, I'm sure she understands."

"I just don't get it, why … why do these things always happen to me?" He pressed his lips tightly together to keep himself from tearing up, but it was no use.

Kurt had really been sure that he had already cried out every single drop of substance existing in his body, but apparently he had been wrong. Big, hot tears were streaming over his still sensitive skin, dropping soundly on the mattress in front of him.

"Oh honey, please don't cry," he heard Blaine murmur, the endearment slipping out without notice, then the bed dipped as Blaine sat down close to him. Hesitantly he reached out, placing one of his hands soothingly over Kurt's and when that only intensified the other boy's sobs he shuffled closer, gently putting an arm around his shoulders. At first Kurt tried to push him away, hiding his tear-streaked face, but after a few moments his defence weakened and he collapsed into the other boy. Quickly Blaine wrapped his other arm around his lower back and held him close, to keep them both upright.

With his head tucked securely in Blaine's neck and his body resting comfortably against his, Kurt thought that this could really be considered a good place to bawl your eyes out. … Actually Kurt decided this was one of the best crying places he had used so far, even beating the little blanket fort he had build with five, because Aaron Mitchel had stolen his chocolate muffin.

First of all, while several layers of blankets could provide a decent warmth, Kurt was pretty sure that no amount of blankets could beat Blaine's natural body heat pressing close, or the strong arms encircling his back and rubbing gentle patterns over his shirt. And if he had not had sixteen years of practice restraining his natural instincts he surely would have started purring, but as it was he held himself back. But it was difficult … oh, so difficult, especially while he was surrounded by Blaine's natural scent, overtaking his respiratory and making his head spin.

Most boys his age were giving of a constant aroma of old frying oil, torturing Kurt's poor hypersensitive nose and killing any kind of attraction he could have felt for them otherwise.

Blaine though (or the Dalton boys in general, maybe it had something to do with this school, he would have to check that thesis on Monday) seemed immune to this phenomenon in his age-group or maybe his natural scent was just strong enough to cover everything else up. Either way, with his nose pressed into the crook of his neck, Kurt could not help but breathe in deeply, which made his head swirl and every fiber of his body begging to be closer. Maybe it really was time to get some space between them, before Kurt did something stupid. Just … a few seconds longer. That would not hurt anybody, right? While thinking he had tucked closer to the other boy, burying his face deeper into his neck, unconsciously nosing over the soft skin and making the other boy shudder.

_Okay. Time to stop now. _

"Urgh." He grimaced somewhat apologetic, slightly leaning back. "I really need a tissue."

Very carefully Blaine withdrew his left hand to reach into his pocket, handing him a packet of tissues which Kurt accepted thankfully.

"I was half-expecting you to carry around one of this old-fashioned silk handkerchiefs with your initials embroidered," he muttered, before blowing his nose as elegantly as possible.

Blaine laughed half-heartedly, wordlessly pocketing the pack again, one arm still around his shoulders. "I'm not that old-fashioned."

"You are carrying a pocket watch, Blaine. A pocket watch."

"It was an heirloom!" Blaine exclaimed exaggeratedly, before turning serious again. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you. And I'm sorry for … breaking down on you, ruining your pullover and all that."

"Oh no, that's fine. My clothes have seen worse, thanks to living in an all-boys-school with it's own chemistry lab."

Kurt smiled lightly, before shyly glancing up. "How about that Disney film we talked about now?"

* * *

**LilShiho-chan**: Spätestens im letzten Kapitel wäre dann wohl bei den Reviewantworten auch alles klar gewesen : D Ersteinmal vielen Dank für dein Kompliment :) Alles auf englisch zu schreiben ist manchmal gar nicht so einfach, deswegen ist es eine nette Abwechslung bei dieser Reviewantwort nicht jedes Wort dreimal überprüfen zu müssen. Ich bin froh das meine mangelnden Sprachkenntnisse bisher nicht aufgefallen zu sein scheinen und werde mich sofort auf die Suche nach diesen verräterischen zwei Wörtern begeben : D (Ist eines davon Kindergarten? Das könnte ich nämlich auf die autokorrektur schieben). Also vielen Dank für mein erstes deutsches Review (von jemandem der diese Geschichte nicht Beta liest) und ich hoffe der Fortlauf der Geschichte gefällt dir. (Außerdem bist du ein Rubinrot-Fan wie ich auf deiner Seite gelesen habe, was dir schonmal 600 Pluspunkte einbringt.)

**The-power-of-love**: Thank you :) I hope you likes this even though it has some negative progression.

**cold kagome**: Yeah, I love the Hudsons, even though Finn's far from perfect in this chapter.

**FostineFoli: **Thank you so much :) I'm so glad you enjoy the story so far and I hope you continue reading.

**ZomePeople13:** Thank you so much ^.^ I'm so grateful for your comments to every chapter and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

**JessicaOgren813:** Well, well, well a new reviewer just in time for the next update. I was incredibly pleased that I got another Review just before publishing the next chapter, so enjoy this :) Also speaking of the devil, here you go with your cuddles ;)


	7. Chapter 6

Well, I originally intended this chapter to take a completely different turn, but well, the muse wants, what the muse wants and therefore you can look forward to the longest chapter so far!

New characters, new love affairs, new topics that are avoided! (And no newspaper article, because well .. I have to mind the time line at least the littlest bit)

Have fun!

* * *

**~*~ Chapter Six ~*~**

Like a bird with broken wings, its not how high he flies but the song he sings

(Strange Familiar; Courage is)

"Oh my god, I can't believe he did that!"

"That idiot!"

"I think that is the stupidest thing I've ever-wait what's he doing now?"

"Eek, look at that!" Wes raised his hand and pointed, mouth open onto the screen of his laptop.

"Oh my, oh my, Wes! What is happening?" David's hand clawed into his friend's forearm, while the other shovelled popcorn into his half-opened mouth, eyes never leaving the scene in front of him.

"I don't know! I don't know! No, don't- what are you even-what?" Wes exclaimed shrilly, squeezing David's hand. The sound of a loud explosion filled the room and Blaine, sitting next to his overdramatic friends found himself suddenly with a lap full of Wes.

He blinked a few times, surprised, before rolling his eyes. Given the reaction of his friends one could think they were watching the chick-flick of the year and not the newest Star Trek movie ...

All he had been looking forward to was a relaxed sunday afternoon, homework finished, so that he could finally start his newest Game of Thrones book and maybe spoil all the newest storylines to Kurt on monday. Clearly Wes and David had different plans. They had been dying to see the newest addition to the Star Trek verse, but between class, Warbler practice, homework and spending time with their respective girlfriends (incomprehensibly absolutely no Star Treck fans) there had not been any opportunity to visit the cinema just yet. So, of course Blaine had let himself be persuaded to watch it and even provided his own laptop when his friends finally got their hands on the DVD, because he was an awesome friend like that (besides, hello Benedict Cumberbatch!).

That was also how he found himself now squeezed between the wall and Wes, his laptop carefully balanced on their knees, while Spock ran panting across the screen.

Luckily -or, from Kurt's perspective, unfortunately- Kurt was still forced to hide in his room to avoid another encounter with Finn and entertained him with a seemingly endless stream of sarcastic and borderline cruel texts that had Blaine biting onto his pillow more than once to keep from bursting out laughing. This was a side of the other boy he did not show very often, mostly just via text, and that one time the incredibly rude barista made them wait over six minutes for a simple coffee, but everytime Kurt lowered his guards a bit Blaine grew fonder of him.

As amusing as his comments were though ... Blaine was still quite concerned about the other boy since his breakdown on Saturday, but every time he subtly tried to broach the subject, Kurt very unsubtly dodged. Like now for example: Instead of explaining why Burt had allowed Finn back in his house, Kurt was complaining about the noise level coming from his living room, before quickly changing the topic to his history essay. Blaine frowned at the screen.

"What's got you making a face as long as a fiddle?" David had finally loosened his gaze from Blaine's laptop and was watching his friend with furrowed brows.

"It's nothing …" Blaine murmured dismissive, eyes fixed on the screen of his phone.

"B' …" Wes turned towards his friend. "You're staring at your phone like it's the holy grail and if David and I hadn't shouted it out to you more than three times, you wouldn't even know which movie we're watching right now."

Blaine opened his mouth to protest, before realising that they were probably right. He had even missed Benedict's first appearance, dammit!

"It's about Kurt," he started, bracing himself for the wave of comments that were sure to come. 'Oh, about Kurt, perfect Kurt with eyes like the ocean?' 'And hair like silk and honey.' 'Skin shining like amber and velvet in the sinking evening sun' And while Blaine was pretty sure that at least the last line was stolen from the poem they were currently analysing in english class, or from one of the twilight novels – you could never be sure with those two – sentences like this made him seriously doubt the heterosexuality of his friends sometimes. To his surprise though they kept silent, watching him expectantly.

"I can't really tell you much, it's kind of personal, but he is having some problems at home and seems miserable."

"Is that why you left so abruptly, yesterday?" Wes asked. They had not been together at the time Blaine must have left the campus early on Saturday morning, but later that day when he and David had wanted to save him from working to much, they had found his room empty, laptop left open on his desk. Living in an boarding school with no possibility to lock his door, this was not a very smart move, also one that was very unlike Blaine and concerned as they were Wes and David had quickly shut down his computer - after they had changed his Desktop background and all of his passwords, or course – and had gone in search. After an unsuccessful visit of the library, gym and cafeteria, a quick text conversation had cleared his sudden disappearance. Blaine had acted quite secretive, but revealed that he had definitely _not _been kidnapped, especially not from the cookie monster and how did they even think that would work? And was safe and sound at Kurt's house, but could not explain why, or how long he would stay there, though he would surely see them at dinner.

Blaine tensed and hung his head. He wanted to talk to his friends about everything, was even sure that it would help him clear his head, but he had promised Kurt not to tell anybody about his family intern fight. Blaine respected that, Blaine understood that, but Blaine also wanted to grab Wes and David and seriously kick Finn's ass.

He sighed deeply. "Yes, but … I don't know. I promised not to tell anybody. But I want to, I just- argh!", he exclaimed frustrated, before quietly admitting. "I don't know what to do. How to help him."

Wes and David exchanged a quick wide-eyed glance. Blaine had always had had a natural, and sometimes even unhealthy desire to help the people around him, hated fights and disharmony and did not rest, before he had done anything in his might and more to fix a situation. There was nothing that Blaine was more afraid of than people disliking him, or a fight he couldn't solve. And while Wes and David were never shy to help him throwing the most impossible stunts, it also had been them who had to pick up the desperate pieces of Blaine, when he realised that even he could not fix everything. Right now he seemed dangerously close again to getting far too involved in someone else's problem and that wasn't good for him.

"Is there anything we can do, B'?" David asked concerned. He and Wes liked Kurt well enough, even considered him one of their best friends, but at the moment Blaine seemed to be the one far more effected by the situation. Wes next to him contended himself with cuddling up to his friend, throwing both arms around his middle and batting David's hand away, when he tried to reach across him to pat Blaine's arm.

"I don't know guys …" Blaine murmured, smiling half-heartedly at their attempts to cheer him up. "Kurt is having a rough time right now and I just- feel so helpless." He rested his head on head tiredly on his friends for a moment.

"Sounds like he desperately needs a distraction," Wes stated, squeezing his friend's side. "Maybe we could do something together? Invite him to Dalton, something like that?"

"Oh, I know!" David suddenly exclaimed, gesturing towards his phone. "Hannah and I wanted to visit this little restaurant -Wes you know which one- this afternoon. Said she wanted to talk to me about something, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind to extend our meeting to a double, or … triple date."

"Not a date," Blaine grumbled. "But that sounds like an excellent idea to get his mind of things."

'And yours', Wes silently added.

Blaine let himself rest between his friends a moment longer, before disentangling their bodies and hopping of the bed. Suddenly excited he grabbed his phone and bounced towards the door. "I'll go call him!"

"Hi Kurt!" Blaine chirped into his phone, after quickly speed-dialing Kurt's number and impatiently waiting for him to pick up.

"Why hello there, Blaine. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call in this fine day?" Kurt drawled and Blaine could just imagine him lying on his stomach, maybe on his bed, or the carpet, feet propped up and the newest issue of vogue in front of him. He had to smile at that thought.

"Just a quick question: Are you free this afternoon?" he asked eagerly, too impatient for small talk.

"You mean apart from hiding in my room? Yes, I hadn't anything else planned, why?"

"Weell ..." Blaine stretched the syllable pleasurable. "I wanted to invite you to dinner."

There was a short silence on the other end, before Kurt cleared his throat. "Oh, um … well-"

"With Wes and David, of course," Blaine hasted to add. "Their girlfriends would be joining us if that's okay?"

"Oh. Oh! Of course, I have to check with my Dad first, but if I don't stay away too late that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"'Course not. We have a curfew to attend too, you know."

"Good, so when are we meeting?"

"Uh … I don't know … to be honest."

"Er, okay? Can you tell me the address then?"

"David said he knew where to go, so I forgot to ask. Maybe I could research it … oh, wait I don't even know the name of the restaurant."

"So, you called to invite me to dinner, but you have no idea when, or where?" Kurt asked disbelieving.

Blaine scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Basically … yes."

"How do you even survive alone in a boarding school?"

"We have an excellent fire alarm system."

There was a loud crash coming from his room. "Speaking of which …. I think I need to get back to the crazy now … Make sure they don't destroy anything," Blaine sighed, trotting back along the corridor towards his room, carefully peeking inside. While he had been on the phone Jeff and Nick must have come back from the library, where they had been studying math, because both boys were currently seated on Jeff's bed, surrounded by notebooks and paper. Wes and David were running around the room in an impression of god-knows-what (most likely some Star Trek scene), ignoring the annoyed looks Jeff was shooting them from where his head was cushioned in Nick's lap.

"Don't you think you're overreacting a bit?" Kurt laughed on the other end.

Blaine shot a quick glance at Wes who was currently trying to climb his dresser to dive onto Jeff's bed.

"No, no, not really. Listen, I will just text you the time and pick you up right beforehand, if that's alright?"

"'Kay, go back to your crazy friends, I will see you then."

"Wait!"

"Yes?"

"They … um, they are your friends now too, you know that right?" He could hear Kurt's breath hitch on the other end.

"I- Yeah, I think I do."

"Just checking," Blaine grinned, relieved. "Bye Kurt."

"Bye Blaine," Kurt echoed, ending the call.

* * *

By the time Blaine reached Kurt's house to pick him up the sky was already darkening and well aware of Kurt's father suspicious eyes on him, he greeted his friend with a short hug – a tradition he had decided to start after their encounter yesterday and held open the car door for him. Not that he would not have done any of this without being watched, but he still felt like he was completing some kind of test. The car ride was short, since their destination was located on the border of Lima, but due to a teasing discussion about the pro's and con's of Blaine's driving abilities and Kurt's unsurprisingly jam-full Ipod quite enjoyable.

Soon enough they could see Wes, David and two girls through the window of Blaine's car, waiting for them in front of the glass doors of an expensive looking restaurant. Blaine pulled into one of the parking spaces, only slightly askew as he assured Kurt, who incredulous eyed the non-existent space between them and their neighbour-car. In the end he had to exit the car by climbing over the driver's seat and Kurt did not let it take him, to step on the cover vigorously with his dusty boots. Still, after they had shut off the music, they were able to walk leisurely towards their friends.

"Hey guys!" David waved at them, before they were even in hearing distance. "How was your drive?"

"Quite fun actually," Blaine grinned at Kurt's unimpressed expression, before stepping forward to greet the girls, while Wes introduced them.

"Well, this is Nadine, my lovely girlfriend and right next to her, Hannah." Wes gestured towards the two girls behind him. "Ladies meet our newest friend, Kurt."

"It's great to meet you!" Nadine squealed excitedly, leaning forward to hug Kurt quickly as a greeting. Blaine froze, afraid that Kurt would flinch back like he did to Wes' first touch, but the boy only tensed slightly and before he had even time to react the girl pulled back again.

"Sorry, I'm a hugger," she murmured sheepishly. "Wes told me to warn people beforehand, but sometimes I forget myself."

Still somewhat baffled Kurt smiled unsure at her. "That's … That's fine. Just caught me by surprise."

Blaine smiled silently to himself. Nadine was a generally joyful girl, with long brown locks, curling wildly around her round face and the widest smile Blaine had ever seen. She was not the tallest, but her loud laugh and charming personality made more than up for that. From all of Wes's previous girlfriends Nadine was definitely Blaine's favourite and he was pretty sure that by the end of the evening Kurt would share this impression with him.

Hannah, David's girlfriend stood right behind her, contending herself with a simple handshake towards Kurt. "What's up?"

Kurt smiled at her too, taking in her short black hair and piercing grey eyes. A silvery tongue piercing twinkled in the light as she spoke."You new to Dalton?"

He nodded. "I transferred about three weeks ago."

"A mid-year transfer? That's rare. How come?" Hannah asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kurt looked taken aback at the blunt question. "I, uhm … had some problems at my old school."

The girl looked like she wanted to ask further, so Blaine quickly interfered.

"Have you been here before, Kurt?"

His friend shook his head, glancing up at the simple black letters above their heads that spelled out the name of their location.

"It's actually quite nice," Wes said. "And an excellent place for a romantic date." He winked exaggerated at Nadine. She batted her eyelashes at him, before stepping forward and intertwining their hands. "Are you trying to woo me, Mr. Montgomery?"

"Maybe? That depends if that intentions would be welcome?" Wes flirted back shamelessly.

"Ugh," David mumbled, just as Nadine leaned in to peck her boyfriend on the lips. "Do we have to endure this all evening?" He turned to Blaine for support, but the boy had his gaze fixated on Kurt, who was tilting his head to the side, an endearing little smile playing around his lips while he watched Wes and Nadine interact. David sighed deeply. This promised to be a long evening.

"So, at the risk of sounding clichéd, but I'm generally curious: How did you meet?" The group had settled around a large table in the corner of the restaurant, right next to a big window front and Kurt had turned towards the two couples opposite of him, eyeing them curiously.

"That's actually quite a funny story, that-" Wes started, folding his hands delicately in front of him.

"- we don't really have to repeat right now, do we?" Nadine interrupted him with a forced smile.

"Oh, please do!" David could barely contain his smile. "It's simply the best first meeting story I've ever heard."

"No, it's not," Nadine mumbled, but her protest seemed already broken.

"It was at a super market," Wes chimed in, earning him a playful glare from his girlfriend.

"It's my embarrassment so let at least me tell me the story," she sniffed offended, before heaving a deep breath and starting her story. "To understand this you need to know a few things about me and my family. As you may have guessed from my appearance I'm originally Greek , but my parents immigrated when they were quite young to the United States, were they quickly obtained professions and founded a family. When they arrived in this country they already had two little girls, twins at that, my two older sisters, Anna and Maria, after that their family expanded rapidly. During the next few years my mother gave birth to me, my little sister Joana and at last a little boy called Martin. As you can see my family is huge and with five woman in the house it can be a lot of stress. Because of this I try to unburden my mother as much as possible, by for example grocery shopping."

"Honey … You are deflecting," Wes gently chided. "Stop avoiding the topic."

"Alright. So, I was grocery shopping and we need quite a big amount of … well of everything. So also of the things I was buying right now."

"Which were?" David asked, grinning like a little boy at Christmas about to open the biggest present. Nadine mumbled something inaudibly.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that?"

She sighed deeply and said with as much dignity as possible. "Feminine hygiene products."

David burst out laughing and had to bury his head in his napkin. Nadine, as well as Hannah glared at him, before Nadine continued.

"A lot of feminine hygiene products to be exact, because well, with five women in one house … anyway: There I was, carrying two armful of sanitary napkins and tampons, piled up so high I could barely see anything. You can imagine what happened next: I was as good as blind, stumbled into someone and allocated feminine hygiene products everywhere."

"That someone being Wes, I assume?" Kurt asked, not sure if he wanted to bury his face in his hand out of mortification for the girl, or laugh along with David.

"I assured him that these weren't all for me, of course that would have been plain weird."

"Not much weirder than having a hectic girl trying to collect her articles, while explaining more about menstruation than I ever wanted to know," Wes added.

"I just wanted to bring across the point that many women, means a lot of blood. And that slime-"

"Please stop talking," Blaine said quickly, with wide eyes and red checks.

"Oh, just be glad that you will never have to bother with things like that, B'," David shrugged.

Kurt frowned at that. "What does he mean?" he asked, turning to Blaine.

"You … haven't told him?" Wes asked astonished.

"I … well no, not really. It just never came up and -"

"Told me what?" Kurt interrupted.

"That Blaine's as gay as a flaming rainbow," Hannah grinned.

"Thank. You. Hannah." Blaine glared at the girl, before turning back to Kurt, carefully studying his face. "That … isn't a problem, is it?"

To his surprise Kurt just laughed. "Oh no, of course not. That would be kind of hypocritical, wouldn't it?" They were silent for a few seconds, before David seemed to connect the dots.

"Hah! I told you. Pay up, Montgomery," he exclaimed, grinning widely and waving his hand expectantly at Wes.

"You bet on my sexuality?" Kurt asked with raised eyebrows.

"What? No, we would never!" Wes called out, while handing David a ten dollar note. Nadine giggled mutely, before grabbing her boyfriend's hand on top of the table.

"Wesley. I very clearly saw-"

"Now, have you read the newspaper today? Fascinating, absolutely fascinating."

"Are you … talking about the hybrid that run amok in a school?" Blaine interfered carefully.

"Such an horrible story, wasn't it?" Nadine murmured, squeezing Wes's hand.

"It seems unbelievable that something like this can even happen nowadays. One would think that the police has better control," Hannah added.

"Well, the police limit's are set by their citiziens," Blaine mentioned quietly.

"What … what do you mean by that?" Kurt asked very, very calm.

"Isn't it a well-known fact that due to their ancestry hybrids aren't able to control their animal instincts? If this is assumed it was only a matter of time, before one of them would lose control."

Kurt had already opened his mouth to protest, but to his surprise David beat him to it. "How do you want to know this? Have you ever actually met a hybrid?"

"Ehm, no. Have you?" Blaine frowned at his friends aggressive tone.

"Actually yes! And I can assure you that she is far from dangerous."

"I didn't mean to offend you. I just read this article about the topic, it seemed quite valid and-"

"Oh, well you can't trust the media on that account," Kurt huffed.

"Are you saying they are wrong? I mean after all it isn't proved that hybrids aren't dangerous." Hannah had crossed her arms, raising a challenging eyebrow.

"Well, that isn't proved for humans either and you can read about a teenager running amok every other day. No one is talking about locking away every teenager, are they?" David countered heatedly.

"But that's different!"

"How so?"

"Because hybrids aren't human! You can't compare animals to humans!" Hannah's voice had now risen wide above appropriate small-talk level and Nadine had to shush her empathetically when a passing waiter glared at them. Hannah glared right back, but lowered her voice noticeable. "Sorry."

David accepted the apology with a quick squeeze of his girlfriend's hand.

"You are wrong by the way," Kurt said quietly after a short while. "Hybrids are considered the closest relative to the human race known so far. So, in fact they are much closer to humans than to animals."

"Are you sure? My father just told me yesterday-" David snorted besides her.

"Sweetie, I've met your father and he didn't seem the most reliable source concerning scientific facts."

Hannah mumbled something inaudible under her breath, but let the argument slide.

"Wait a second ...When have you met a hybrid?" Blaine asked, turning towards David interested.

"One of my aunts has fox genes. We don't see her very often, but when I was little I would spend almost every summer on her farm."

"Aw, that sounds quite nice!" Nadine gushed. "Where does she live?"

"Somewhere … far away … I don't really know, to be honest. Outside on the countryside, where she can stay by herself, because you know … most people aren't very accepting."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Kurt whispered earnestly.

"Nah, she's fine now." David had his usual grin back. "Besides she has always the most crazy hybrid-gossip! This one time she told me about a video made by gardeners ..."

While dessert was served their conversation developed from the serious note to some lighter topics.

At the moment Wes and Blaine were discussing the newest song selections of the Warblers, while Nadine and Hannah had their own silent conversation next to them. Kurt cracked the sugar-top of his Créme Brûlée listening silently.

"Oh, that reminds me ..." Blaine turned slightly on his chair, fixating Kurt. "Weren't you planning on visiting the Warblers at some point?"

"Hm? Oh, yes only if it isn't to much trouble, of course?"

Wes frowned. "We normally only hold auditions at the beginning of the year ..."

Kurt looked devastated and Blaine full out glared at his friend, desperately willing him to make an exception of the rules just this once.

"... but there is actually a clause that provides exceptions to that rule concerning mid-year-transfer's," he added, rolled his eyes at Blaine and sent him a 'Do you really think I'm that stupid' – look back.

"That would be great," Kurt smiled.

"Uhu, next Warbler's practice is at thursday. Will you be ready to audition at that time?"

"That's … in two days!" Kurt's eyes widened in panic.

"If it's too short notice, I'm sure we can reschedule and-"

"No, no that's fine. I can do that. Just need to decide on a song- Maybe I should call Rachel- and what about costumes? Do I need a costume? Or the band? I could ship Brad over – What?" He stopped his rant when Blaine started laughing.

After dessert was finished they left. Blaine insisted on paying for both him and Kurt, much to the later's protest and they entered the parking space still bickering. On a silent agreement it was Blaine who would be driving Kurt home, so the group halted in front of their cars.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Kurt." Nadine smiled warmly at the boy, moving in for a hug, but hesitating. Kurt just grinned at her, closing the gap between them and squeezing her quickly.

"Likewise, we should repeat that sometime soon."

"We're always up for a shopping trip, if you're interested," Hannah answered. She did not hug him, but their handshake lasted a lot longer than before.

"_If _I'm interested? Honey, the only thing keeping me from camping at the mall is my curfew and and the fact that even I couldn't rock the homeless look."

Blaine snorted quietly behind them. Sometimes he couldn't really believe the comments coming from his originally shy friend. Throughout the evening he had become more and more relaxed around the girls, showing a side of him normally reserved for private moments with Blaine.

And Blaine was absolutely not jealous of that. No, sir. It was just …. he had been friends with Kurt first! They knew each other much longer and it had taken more than two weeks for Kurt to open up enough to be this carefree around him! It just … wasn't fair.

Someone nudged him slightly in the side. He snapped out of his reverie, suddenly becoming aware of his surroundings again. Wes and David must have already driven off, to drop their girlfriends of and Kurt and him were standing alone in front of his car. At the moment Kurt was looking expectingly at him, seemingly waiting for an answer to whatever question he had asked.

"Uuh ..." Blaine started, looking lost.

"You aren't very attentive, Blaine," Kurt lectured, only half-jokingly.

"I'm sorry, it's just ..." he hesitated, before deciding that honesty was still the best policy. "You are so different with them."

Kurt frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"

"When you first came to Dalton … don't take this the wrong way, but you were completely reserved, shy even, never making eye contact and rarely talking. It took such a long time for you to open up to us and now … you're joking and hugging girls you've only met this evening."

"So, you're saying that's a bad thing?" Kurt asked disbelieving.

"God, Kurt no, of course not! I'm just surprised, I guess. And confused?"

His friend sighed, raising a hand as if he wanted to ruffle his hair before stopping himself. "It's much easier around girl's," he confessed quietly.

"To be myself, I mean. I've always … at my old school all of my friends were female. Girls accepted me for being me, weren't afraid to touch me and they understood me much better than anyone else could. I was counted a honorary girl, before I even knew what that meant and since most guy's naturally stayed away from me, always afraid to 'catch the gay' … well I wasn't exactly sad about it.

When you came to me this first day at school, I was so surprised that you actually wanted to talk to me. Three boys voluntarily spending time with me without making fun of me, or being uncomfortable." A silent tear slipped down his cheek and he quickly whipped it away. "Sorry, I'm just … I try to open up, you know? It's just difficult to believe, to actually believe that this isn't some kind of prank and any second somebody is going to jump out screaming 'Got'cha there. You really thought they would be friends with you, f-fag?" His voice broke at the last word.

"Kurt ..." Blaine whispered, voice thick with emotions. Not knowing what to say he gently drew the boy into a hug.

"That is not going to happen, I promise, I swear!" He murmured into his neck frantically to reassure him. "You're such an amazing person and anybody who can't see that must be blind. Every time you open up a bit more, I just realise how incredible you really are and you are doing good, so good. I'm incredibly proud of you for telling me this."

"B-blaine," Kurt sobbed quietly, clutching to him even tighter. Blaine let him cry into his shoulder until he could feel the wetness of his tears through his pullover. There were very few occasions when he had felt this helpless. He had never considered himself to be very good at comforting people, even though everybody seemed to think he was. So all he could do right now was whispering soothing words in his friends ear, while drawing random patterns on his back. It took a few more minutes for Kurt to calm enough to talk.

"Is this now going to happen every time we see each other?" Kurt sniffed, attempting a smile. Blaine smiled back, squeezing him once more, before releasing him. "I hope not. Are you ready to go home yet? I'm afraid we might be late otherwise."

"Oh, crap! I'm sorry! Is it already this late? I didn't mean to keep you."

"No worries. We're still on time of we leave soon." Blaine shrugged, opening the car door to let him inside. Kurt climbed across the Dirver's seat without complaint this time. "We should still talk about this though."

"I already did quite a lot of talking," Kurt murmured repellent. Blaine let it slide for the time being, but after he had started the car and pulled out of the parking space he gave his friend a prompting look. "Just a bit more, I promise. And if you're uncomfortable we don't need to continue."

Kurt slumped defeated into his seat. "What do you want to know?"

"Is there … more to the lack of trust than you've told me so far? Did- Did this happen before, guys befriending you to make fun of you?"

"No, gladly not. I mean you know I've been bullied, but it never extended that far. I didn't let it extend that far. There was the usual stuff; name calling, locker shoves, slushy facials. Nothing the rest of the glee club didn't have to endure and I could live with that. Really." He added at Blaine's doubtful look.

"But there was this one guy … He had obviously decided that all this hadn't been enough already. From one day to the other he fixated on me, separated me from my friends methodically and started to waylay for me in between class. It was … intense."

"Is … is he the reason you left the school?"

"Part of it," Kurt answered shortly, a sure sign for Blaine that this conversation was now finished.

The rest of the car ride was spent in silence. It was not necessarily uncomfortable, but Blaine could not help to feel like something still wasn't quite right.

"I'm sorry," Blaine said after a while.

"What for?"

"I'm not sure. Pushing you? Making you uneasy? It feels weird between us, doesn't it? So I felt like apologizing."

"Apart from the fact that this isn't the healthiest reaction to uncomfortable situations, I don't think there is anything you need to apologize for. It's just been an exhausting weekend for me, you know?"

"Of course. After everything that happened with Finn … Why is your life so full of drama again?"

"Because it would be boring otherwise."

"Right," Blaine drawled, stopping the car in front of Kurt's house. They exited the car, slowly walking towards the front door.

"You will be still on time when you get back to Dalton, right?" Kurt asked worried, when they halted. Blaine glanced at his clock, before nodding. "Even without breaking any speed laws."

"Then I guess I will see you tomorrow?"

"On the parking space with your coffee waiting." Blaine grinned cheekily, before hugging him briefly.

"Goodnight Blaine," Kurt mumbled into his neck, before stepping back.

"Night!"

"And drive save!" Kurt called after him, right before he entered his car. Blaine rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but waved his hand as a sign that he had heard him.

* * *

My list for review-answers is getting longer and longer everytime I update. Keep that up people ^.^

**FostineFoli: **So, no Finn this time, but a lot of Wevid and just wait for the next chapter :)

**Lerastone1917**: Thank you so much ^.^

**Cold Kagome:** Yeah, that's just Blaine :) Perfect gentleman

**LilShiho-Chan**: Hach ja, das entspannte antworten. Die Muttersprache ist immer einfacher, aber Englisch trifft einfach ein viel größeres Publikum … Ich habe versucht die Reaktionen der Leute möglichst Realitätstreu zu halten und die ganze Situation in meinem Kopf mit der Ablehnung von Homosexualität, oder dem besonders gravierendem Rassismus gleichzusetzen. Ich könnte mir sehr gut vorstellen, dass diese Reaktionen Wirklichkeit werden, sollte die Menschheit jemals in eine solche Situation kommen würde. Auf Finns Reaktion wird aber noch ein bisschen gewartet werden müssen :)

**The-power-of-love**: I'm glad you still enjoy reading :) And what would be a good story without some drama?

**Jessicaogren813**: Aaw :D Thank you! Then I'm pretty sure you'll also love this chapter

**Rooz33: **You spend all your wifi-time on my story? :O I'm honoured! Thanks, as always for your review and I plan on educating people soon, at least a little bit

**ZomePeople13: **Yeah purring Kurt would be adorable, but also very conspicuous... Glad you enjoyed it so much :)

**JGirl**: Thank you very much :)


	8. Chapter 7

Filler chapter … is a filler chapter … nanana … Have fun anyways ;) And look there's Klaine!

The song is Gift of a Friend, from Demi Lovato and as always I don't take credit for any of the mentioned songs. But I seriously recommend you to listen to the song, because it's beautiful.

Also many thanks to everyone who favourited, followed and especially reviewed this story.

* * *

**~*~ Chapter Seven ~*~**

But you walk around here like you wanna be someone else

(Bruno Mars; Treasure)

**Bill No. 8 – Finally making progress?**

After the past weeks ups and downs of bill No. Eight, promising hybrids more rights, it seems like the bill is finally making progress. Yesterday at twelve o' clock Riles Thomas, a speaker of the Senate, confirmed that in cooperation with the congress the final editing on the bill has been made.

"It was a complicated and exhausting process, but I think everybody will be satisfied with our ultimate conclusion. Now all we can do is hope that the responsible committee will find everything to their liking," Riles said during an interview. Members of the hybrid committee the bill is going to be presented to have been reassuring that they are aware of the controversial discussions surrounding the bill, but that no public opinion is going to influence their decisions. Still, some parties remain sceptical: Lilian Honower, wife of Jason Honower and founder of the 'FHR – Fighter for Hybrid rights' said in a video: "[...] Still, we find it doubtable that hundreds of objectors won't scare, or unsettle the committee. Nobody hopes for it more than we do, but you, too, would find that difficult to believe, if you would have seen what we have [...]"

Never the less all they can do is wait. Wait until in a few weeks the hybrid committee has made it's final altering on the bill and releases it for voting. Until then the question remains if the bill is going to make it past it's first barrier and will be able to continue its journey towards the two chambers.

* * *

"We have to do something about this!" David exclaimed on monday morning, staring intensely at Jeff whose head rested on Nick's shoulder two rows in front of them. The whole school was currently attending their daily morning assembly where they were supposed to listen to Mr. Wright who was standing on his tiptoes behind their large podium, listing today's activities.

Kurt followed his friend's gaze towards the two boys, raising an eyebrow. "About what, exactly?"

He never would have picked David for being offended by this display of affection and after his more or less intentional coming out Kurt had been pretty sure that his friends were actually quite thrilled about his sexuality.

"Oh, come on. I mean you're new and all, but you surely have noticed that they are all 'lovey-dovey'," Wes answered, drawing exaggerated air quotes around his last word. "This has been going on for far too long. It's time to take actions!"

An uneasy feeling settled in Kurt's stomach as David nodded enthusiastically, pulling a leather clad notebook seemingly out of nowhere. (Well maybe he got it from his school back, lying to his feet, but who was Kurt to mention such insignificant facts?)

"Operation 'Niff' is officially a go!" he exclaimed and Kurt could have laughed in relief.

Still … "What exactly is- Wait, I think I don't really want to know," he quickly added in an afterthought, but it was no use, for David immediately launched into a heartfelt speech.

"Well I was all for naming it 'TSAASMTGNAJTSMLEAEOBOOUSTEGOST', short for 'The super awesome and secret mission to get Nick and Jeff to stop making lovey-dovey eyes at each other, before one of us starts to either gag, or strangle them' but _someone_" He shot a heartfelt glare at Wes. "insisted that it sounded 'childish' and 'didn't had a nice ring to it'. Unlike a silly kindergarden fusion of their forenames."

"It's not silly! You' silly! Your mom is silly! Go away!"

"Really Wes, really? When was the last time somebody joined your name with that of your girlfriend?"

"Last wednesday. And if I remember correctly it was you at breakfast, trying to tease me about our two hour phone conversation the day before," Wes deadpanned, rising his voice a little bit too high, causing the boy in front of him to turn and shush him with an angry glare. Both boys silenced, but as soon as the boy had turned towards the front again David grimaced and continued in a hushed whisper. "We've got it all planed out in here." He held up the note book, proudly presenting the first page titled 'Operation Niff – Plan A – Part I' "Seriously, this time there's nothing that could go wrong!"

Next to them Blaine groaned. "You say that every. Single. Time. And so far you've set off the fire alarm three times, destroyed two antique pieces of furniture and remember that incident where three freshmen had to be taken to the nurse? I do, you know, because I was one of them. I still have a burn scar on my ellbow."

"I agree with Blaine," Kurt chimed in. "Messing with someone's love-life doesn't seem like a good idea and I talk from experience when I say that it has never ended in anything good before."

With that statement the morning assembly ended and there was a great bustle, in which everyone stood up and tried to leave assembly hall faster than their neighbours. The four friends split up to get to their respective classes and after that the topic was dropped for the rest of the day, what Kurt was very thankful for.

From what Blaine had told him so far Wes and David were sure not to let go 'Operation Niff' that easily, but the longer they waited the more time was left for Nick and Jeff to come to terms with their feelings on their own terms. It would be a shame to see such a deep friendship break over something as stupid as Wes and David's matchmaking abilities – or inabilities.

After an exhausting English lesson in which the most pleasurable experience had been the surprise test in the beginning, Kurt left the school grounds to head to a coffee shop just outside town. He would be seeing two of his best girlfriends, Rachel Berry and Mercedes Jones. Both had recently expressed their appal to the fact that with Kurt adjusting to his new schedule there had been little to no time for 'a little lady talk', as Rachel liked to call it. Therefore both girls would await him in some café chain right between Westerville and Lima in about ten minutes. Right on time Kurt pulled up in front of the establishment, parking his navigator in a nearby alley, before downright skipping through the doors.

The bell above him jingled, as he observed his environment, eager to catch up with his girls, finally stomach something after a long day of school and maybe cool his light headache with an iced drink. Rachel and Mercedes were seated next to a large window front and basking in the warm autumn sun, shining through some bare branches. They must have already been waiting for him, judging by the half-empty glasses in front of them and the excited squeals they let out as soon as they spotted him. Kurt suspected that they may or may not have been talking about him, because their greeting appeared to be a bit overenthusiastic, even for them. Never the less he welcomed them with two brief hugs and let Mercedes press a fleeting kiss to his cheek, before stealing a chair from their thankfully unoccupied neighbour table and settling down.

"Kurt! How was school?" Mercedes beamed at him.

"Long, exhausting, but I had an interesting conversation with Nick at lunch about cream sauces versus tomato sauce. Turns out he's quite the cook."

"Really? I thought you told us, that he was all quite and shy?" she asked doubtful.

"He is, but if you get to know him he can be surprisingly talkative. Speaking of which, Tina told me you still haven't found your last club members?"

Mercedes nodded, sadly. "With you gone and Finn refusing to join again – God knows why he even joined in the first place – we probably won't be able to compete at regionals."

"That would be a shame. I'm sorry 'Cedes." He patted her arm briefly.

"Not your fault, boo. On the upside Mike promised to talk to some of the new students, said one of them's quite talented."

They had to interrupt their conversation shortly, for Kurt to order – diet coke and a chicken sandwich. As soon as the waitress had left, Kurt turned to Rachel, who had been surprisingly quiet during their little catch-up. With her arms crossed and mouth pressed into a thin line, she looked ready to burst any second.

"Something you would like to add, Rachel?" Kurt sighed, but she shook her head stubbornly. Mercedes seemed uneasy for a second, before taking up the dialogue again. "What about your school-life anyway? Any new drama, we need to know?"

Kurt chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully, before slowly nodding. "Well, Wes and David are convinced that Nick and Jeff – you know Jeff, the shoe disliking blonde? - are secretly flaming in indelibly love for each other. Just this morning -" He startled when Rachel suddenly exclaimed: "I can't take this anymore!" and jumped up from her chair. Kurt and Mercedes stared at her like she had grown a second head.

"Stop small-talking Mercedes. Let's face the fact why we are here today." Rachel raised her arm, dramatically brandishing her raised index finger in front of his nose, nearly poking his eye and proclaiming with an ominous voice: "Kurt I-refuse-to-tell-you-my-middle-name Hummel, is it true or not that you decided to betray your dearest and loving friends in the most despicable and treacherous of all ways?!" Her speech continued with a heart-felt pantomime of ramming herself something in the stomach. "Stabbing the symbolic knives right into our backs, without even considering our grief and pain!" She broke down, hands covering her face and shoulders heaving in fake sobs.

Kurt stared at her, open mouthed. "You are crazy," he stated, surprisingly calm. "Absolutely crazy."

Rachel let out a sound similar to wolf howling and clutched desperately at Mercedes legs. One of the waitresses looked over to them in concern. Mercedes patted their friends hand in an awkward 'Na, na'-gesture, waving her hand in something she hoped was a reassuring way at the employee. Kurt was still staring at his friend aghast, when Mercedes turned her guilty face in his direction.

"Uhm, I may, or may not have told her … about your audition," she admitted quietly.

"What?" His head snapped up. "But why, Mercedes? I thought I made it clear-"

"I know, I know! But she's just so … persuading!" she whined.

"I knew it, I knew this would happen," he muttered, while he bent down to get Rachel back on her feet. Until then the waitress had gotten reinforcement and two young woman were now circling their table, trying to eavesdrop on what was going on. Rachel raised her head from Mercedes legs – something the latter was very thankful for, her tights were new after all – and turned a full on glare at Kurt. The force of that look forfeited a bit, considering the fact that she was still kneeling on the floor, but that did not stop her from continuing her accusation.

"You didn't even think about talking to me about this! And while my musical genius is deeply offended by the fact, that you didn't ask my opinion on song choices, I find it far more severe that you refuse to tell your best friend-" Mercedes cleared her throat pointedly. "One of your best friends that you plan on betraying everything she lives for."

"Rachel," Kurt exhaled. "While I understand your irritation and concern, I'm not part of the New Directions anymore. I don't owe you anything in that respect and am free to make my own decisions. Don't you think I've a right to do what I love, when I already had to leave my friends behind?"

Rachel looked taken aback for a second, her glare wavering and she slowly sat up. "Of course you should. But don't you think it's possible that they only want you for all the secret harmonies and dance routines that you know from us? Because I've researched the Warblers and they could seriously need some dance advise!"

"You really think I would betray you like that? Besides Blaine assured me -"

"Oh, is this about Blaine?" Rachel suddenly perked up, raising from the ground.

Kurt blushed lightly, but tried to continue. "He assured me that the Warblers have no interest - "

"Because as much as I appreciate a tragic love story it doesn't justify you giving out any of our secrets!"

"And I won't!" Kurt exclaimed. "I promise, I won't. Can't you just accept that I can be part of the Warblers **and **support the New Directions?"

"You promise?" Rachel asked warily, but Kurt knew she was giving in, when she took her place next to him again. "Pinky promise?" she clarified.

"I would make an unbreakable vow, if it soothes you," he replied drily.

"Doesn't mean we are letting you that easily deflect from the Blaine-topic. Don't think I didn't see that blush, Hummel," Mercedes chimed in, sipping her orange juice patronizing.

"I should've never told you about him," Kurt muttered.

"Hah. As if you could last even a minute without mentioning him," Mercedes laughed.

"That's not true at all! I have plenty of interesting topics to talk about. Blaine even said – Oh, screw you!" He grimaced, when both girls started laughing.

In that moment Kurt's order arrived, one of the nosy waitresses setting it on the table. Kurt refrained from scolding her for the time a simple drink and sandwich had required, but only because Rachel was still brushing dirt from her skirt, eyeing the floor viciously.

Only when he was sure the woman was out of hearing distance – and it took her more than two minutes of tutting and straightening – he dared to start the conversation again.

"You've no right to tease me, by the way. I've lived through plenty of your crushes before, without -"

"So, you admit you have a crush on him?" Rachel squealed, interrupting him once more.

Kurt blushed. And not the pretty 'my cheeks heat up a little bit and I bat my eyelashes adorably' kind of blush, more the 'my whole face has the colour of tomatoes and what is air' kind. "W-what? I- erm, pf … never said that. No, erm maybe?"

"Aw, Kurt!" Mercedes gushed. "That's so cute!"

"And dramatically tragic," Rachel added. "You come from two different worlds, separated by society. Human and hy-"

"Rachel!" Kurt shushed her warningly. The girl had raised her voice a bit too much and the two waitresses were looking over to them in interest.

"Right, sorry," she muttered. "But it's just so … dramatic. And tragic!"

"Speaking of which … do you plan on telling him?" Mercedes asked.

Kurt sighed. "No. Not yet anyway. Maybe later on, when I know him better."

"Are you sure?" she probed.

"Yes, I am sure," Kurt replied, annoyed. "Girls please, I've enough of this kind of questions at home where my Dad tries to convince me to tell Finn."

"You _still_ haven't talked to him?" Rachel asked aghast. "It's been – what? Three days?"

"Two!" Kurt protested. "If you don't count Saturday."

"You should listen to your father, Kurt," Rachel stated. "Everything would be much easier if he knew."

"No, it wouldn't!" he exclaimed. "And I really don't want to talk about this right now."

"But-" Rachel tried.

"No."

"Even if-"

"No."

"Hrmpf, fine! Do you intend on eating that?" She pointed to his neglected sandwich.

"Wh- yes, of course. Hands off my food!"

Both girls tried to approach the topic a few times after that, but Kurt stayed stubborn and so the conversation developed to lighter themes. Like Blaine's hair for example.

Several minutes later they ended their chat with splitting the bill, little good-bye hugs and the promise of meeting up soon again.

* * *

The next day Kurt's Warblers audition was due and quite frankly he was nervous as hell. While on the one side he was happy to escape his home and the tension lying in the air for a few hours, since there had been neither the time nor the motivation on Kurt's part for a clearing conversation with Finn, the prospect of singing in front of a bunch of strangers that would judge him mercilessly left him jumpy and on edge the whole day during class. As Blaine had told him the Warblers enjoyed great popularity among the students, so this would be his first audition in front of someone that would actually criticise his songs and not worship the ground he was walking on simply because he _wanted_ to join.

After his last period, Art and Design by the lovely if not slightly disorientated Mrs. Janson, Blaine awaited him in front of his classroom and together they made their way over the school grounds to the Senior common room, where due to renovations in the music room, Warbler's practice would take place. They were fairly early, for the council usually allowed their singers half an hour of a break after their lessons, to freshen up, or eat something. So it didn't come as a surprise that the only occupants of the room were two seniors bent over their homework when they arrived.

While Kurt hesitated at the doors, afraid to disturb the older students, Blaine sank into one of the couches immediately. He seemed unconcerned by their company, looking questioningly up at his friend still standing uncomfortable in the middle of the room.

"Are you nervous because of your audition?" Blaine asked, when Kurt made no move to sit down. He patted the couch in invitation.

"A bit," Kurt admitted quietly, finally settling next to Blaine. His ears were twitching restlessly in their prison of hair and clips. And he was sure if it were not trapped, his tail would be swishing from side to side. "This will be my first audition where it really comes to something and not anybody is accepted being able to sing, or not."

"You really don't have anything to worry about. In the end it's the Council who makes the decision and since Wes and David like you already … although Wes can be quite critical when it comes to 'his Warblers'. He was also the one refusing over sixty percent of the applicants."

"Not really helping, Blaine," Kurt deadpanned.

"... Right. Sorry. Just ... relax" A teasing glint light up his eyes,while he started swaying lightly.

"Relax … take it eahisieee"

"Oh god, please stop singing."

"For there's nothing we can dohoo"

"People are staring, Blaine."

"Relax … take it eahisieeee!"

"Yeah, I don't know you," Kurt murmured, raising his voice."Who is that guy? Does someone know him? He just started singing? Can someone please take him with them?"

Until then the two Seniors had left and slowly other Warblers started to fill the room. Among of them were also Nick and Jeff that were observing the scene in front of them with mild amusement.

"Don't even try. Nothing gets between Blaine and his songs," Jeff grinned. He had taken off his black dress shoes as soon as he and Nick had entered and was currently settling on the floor tying the laces together. Nick casually petted his head, before dragging two chairs across the room, urging his friend to leave the dusty floor and to take a seat next to Blaine and Kurt.

Kurt observed the two boys carefully. Ever since David's comments about their potential feelings yesterday, he had been keeping an eye on their interaction, carefully trying to make out any treacherous signs that would indicate that there was more than simple friendship between them. Nick and Jeff had always acted very intimate, not bothering to hide their affection for one another, but so far Kurt had not been able to see any unmistakeable sign that they were dating or wanted to be. Like now, for example: The boys were lost in their own little world, obviously having a silent conversation with their eyes that ended with Jeff briefly laying his hand on his friend's forearm. After a moment though he leaned back again, turned away and brought up a conversation with Blaine.

In that moment Wes bustled in, full on in business mode. "Good evening, gentlemen," he greeted, taking his place behind a wooden table at the end of the room, equipped with three identical chairs. "Everybody settle down, settle down. I know the situation is not ideal, but Mr Wright assured me that we will be able to practice in our normal location again soon." There were some quiet murmurs among the boys, but everyone slowly found something or in Jeff's case someone to sit on in favour of leaving his chair for a senior to sit on. David and Thad took their places right and left from Wes at the council's table. Wes observed the room for a second, before settling on Kurt.

"Ah, Kurt, excellent that you are here. Warbler's may I introduce you to Dalton's newest student Kurt Hummel." Some half-hearted greetings filled the room. "Kurt will be auditioning at the end of this practice and the council will decide about his admission. I know-" he started when the room filled with murmurs once again. "I know this isn't the usual procedure, but due to his mid-year transfer and the fact that he missed the open auditions at the beginning of the year it would be regarded wildly unfair to not give him the opportunity to show his talents."

Some of the boys were still frowning, but when David spoke up nobody protested. "Alright gentlemen let's begin, shall we? I suggest we go over our numbers for regionals again. As far as I see it we already decided on 'Counting Stars', by One Republic with Blaine as the lead, but containing a solo of Thad as well as Nick and Justin Timberlake's 'Mirrors' also with Blaine as the lead. The only thing still undecided appears to be our last song, concerning that the council handed out different options to you during our last meeting. I hope everyone has read and memorised their parts so far, so we can quickly sing through them one by one, before coming to a decision."

Kurt, whose mouth had slowly opened during David's speech - because oh my god, it were still weeks until Regionals and they had already decided on their songs? New Directions had to look forward to some serious competition. - noticed Blaine producing some sheets of music out of his school bag.

"Blaine, do you have a suggestion which song to try out first?" Wes asked.

Blaine shrugged, flipping around some papers, before holding up one of the sheets covered in his neat handwriting. "Treasure, by Bruno Mars? I thought the added harmonies had a nice ring to them even though some parts still appear quite rough."

The next hour was spend singing through different arrangements, discussing choreography and working on harmonising their voices.

Kurt had to admit that he was quite impressed. Not only by Blaine's extraordinary singing voice that send shivers down his spine and the fact that he managed to hold his tones while jumping from couches to tables and stools, but also the professionalism of the council. The Wes and David Kurt had gotten to know so far were childish, silly dorks that liked to start food-fights and tease Blaine in an endless stream of annoying comments, but right now they presented a serious side of them that had Kurt stunned and slightly jealous of their abilities.

He spend most of the time curiously listening to the conversation around him and silently fangirling over Blaine's performance, even though he had to admit that neither Nick's, nor Thad's singing was in any way inferior to his. Before he even knew what was happening, practice was over and it was time for his audition.

Wes had made it very clear that while everyone was welcome to stay and listen, Kurt's audition was by no means compulsory or part of their practice and therefore the biggest part of the Warblers wandered out of the room, while Kurt placed a CD Player on the council's table.

For Kurt singing songs always held a special meaning. To him there was a big difference between mindlessly singing along to some lyrics and presenting your voice, your thoughts, your heart to someone.

Most people sang songs, Kurt _gave_ songs.

Most of the time you give a song to yourself, sometimes to an audience and on very special occasions you give one song to a special person. He had given songs to his friends, to all of New Directions, songs to himself in difficult times and one time he had given one to his father. But right now Kurt was giving this song to the Warblers, or more specific to Wes and David, to Nick and Jeff and of course to Blaine. It was a song to say thank you and to show his gratitude for everything they had done for him. (And maybe he had been watching Tinkerbell with Blaine on Saturday evening, letting himself be influenced by that, but who was he to judge Disney songs?)

Delicate panpipe tones filled the space as Kurt pressed play and after inhaling deeply, he started to sing.

_Sometimes you think you'll be fine by yourself  
Cause a dream is a wish that you make all alone  
It's easy to feel like you don't need help  
But it's harder to walk on your own_

His eyes roamed across the room, taking in the curious and – dare he hope? - admiring faces around him. Jeff grinned widely, when they locked eyes and gave him a not so subtle thumbs up. Nick buried half under him smiled quietly to himself, nodding approvingly at Kurt. The council's expression remained neutral, but Kurt assumed that this was their job after all, so he did not dwell on it for too long. At last his gaze landed on Blaine.

_Someone who knows when you're lost and you're scared  
There through the highs and the lows  
Someone to count on, someone who cares  
Beside you wherever you go  
You'll change inside  
When you realize_

Blaine's smile lit up the whole room, warm hazel eyes shining with a mix of admiration and mischief after having recognised the inspiration for Kurt's song. Kurt's heart jumped in his chest, his stomach doing a weird little backflip and he quickly withdrew his eyes.

_No. Not now, not here, not him. _

_And when your hope crashes down  
Shattering to the ground  
You, you feel all alone  
When you don't know which way to go  
And there's no signs leading you home  
You're not alone _

But inexorably his gaze wandered back to the boy, who was still smiling so wide his cheeks must hurt badly until now. When their eyes looked Blaine gave him an adorable little tumbs-up and all Kurt could do was to secretly smile back, before taking a deep breath and throwing himself into the last chorus.

_The world comes to life  
And everything's bright  
From beginning to end  
When you have a friend  
By your side  
That helps you to find  
The beauty you are  
When you open your heart  
And believe in  
The gift of a friend_

The room erupted in polite applause, the lack of clapping from the council's side made up by Blaine, Nick and Jeff who had raised from their seats and were cheering and hooting excitedly.

"Thank you for this, Kurt." Wes smiled tidily, straightening out the notes in front of him. "The council's now going to retreat and deliberate on your audition. We will inform you about our decision in a few minutes." With that he, David and Thad left, leaving a stunned Kurt behind. Within seconds he was surrounded by his friends.

"Oh my god, Kurt!" For a brief moment he was enveloped in warmth and and strong arms. "That was incredible. Why didn't you tell me you're a countertenor?" And just as quick as he had hugged him Blaine was stepping back, leaving Kurt with panicked heartbeat and unable to form a coherent sentence for a moment.

"I- uhm … thanks. Yeah, thank you. Very much. ... uhm." Blaine stared at him with mild amusement, while Kurt internal chided himself for acting like a clichéd rom-com teenager. _Seriously, Kurt? Thanking him three times? Get a grip. _

Fortunately Jeff broke the embarrassing moment by deciding it was his time to congratulate now. "Good job, Kurtie!" Wildly grinning he followed Blaine's example, shortly hugging the other boy. Kurt tensed for an undecided moment, resisting his natural urge to recoil and flee, before taking a deep breath – lemongrass and soap, from the other boys shampoo – and briefly patting his back.

"Let him breathe, Jeff." Blaine's eyes were narrowed in an unusual hostile way, as he promptly ushered the other boy away from Kurt. Jeff gave him a confused look, but was quickly distracted by a loud crash and a mumbled swear on the other end of the room. One of the remaining Warblers had tripped over his bundle of shoes, that had been left unregarded and half-hidden under his chair. Jeff rushed across the room, face screwed up in worry over his comrade and the well-being of his shoes.

Nick used the distraction and freed-up space to step forward, patting Kurt companionable on the back. "You have a remarkable voice," he told him quietly. Surprised, but all the more flattered by the rare compliment, Kurt smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you," he replied earnestly. "Yours is too, from what I've heard so far."

Nick shrugged dismissively. "Nothing in comparison to Blaine."

"Oh, that's not true at all, Nicky!" Jeff had rescued his dressshoes and swung them over his shoulder, where they were dangling with every step he took closer to Nick and Kurt. Hands pressed on his hips, he gave an oddly threatening picture as he build up in front of the two boys. "Your voice is wonderful and don't you dare convince Kurt otherwise."

Nick could not hide a pleased little smile and – was that a blush rising on his cheeks? -, but he did not seem keen on elaborating the topic, instead just shrugging again and retreating a bit from the group. A clear sign that this conversation was finished for him. Jeff did not seem bothered by that, having brought his opinion across and carefree tuned into the conversation going on next to them.

Unfortunately now Kurt remained by himself, left alone with his thoughts and worries. Next to the usual _'What if I don't get in? What if I'm not good enough for them? Will they stop being my friends? Ban me from school? Sacrifice me in a satanic ritual to the Warbler god?' _his mind reeled around the scenario 'what _if_ he got in?'. He did not want to get his hopes up, but the compliments all around and general knowledge that yes, he had quite the voice and was after all one of the founding members of the New Directions had reassured him. _Still … how much would the Warblers take from his already rare free time? Was he really settled in enough to load himself with this extra work? A few hours ago he had been so sure about that, but now ..._

Well, ready or not the council entered the room again in that moment, taking place behind their table again. The remaining Warblers sat down where they were standing, mostly on the floor, but with only a few of them left and time running short the council did not seem all too offended by that lack of etiquette.

Wes, obviously the voice of them, banged a little gavel, to get everyone's attention. "Welcome back, everybody. We are glad to announce that the council's come to a decision about the recently heard audition. After detailed consultation and -"

David pointedly cleared his throat, subtly flashing his clock dial at his friend. They were already running late because of the added audition and he did not want to explain to a bunch of panicked parents why their children were staying in school all night long.

Wes's face crunched up sourly for a moment, but soon enough he continued like nothing happened. "Well, to keep it simple: We agreed on letting you join. Welcome to the Warblers, Kurt."

Kurt half expected someone (Wes, David and/or Jeff) to scream hysterically, jump panicky up and down and maybe faint, or something, but the officiality of the situation must have rubbed off on his friends, because apart from polite applause and shrill whistling from Jeff everything stayed remotely calm.

He let himself be hugged by Blaine – again, not that he was complaining – and accepted the cheerful, but not all that surprised congratulations around him. The council left their table and with that also their seriousness, joining Nick, Jeff and Blaine in their praise. Most of the stayed back Warblers left fairly quickly after that, eager to finally go and enjoy the rest of the day. In the end only the six of them stayed back and Kurt being the only one not boarding kept glancing anxiously at his watch.

His father would worry if he did not head home soon. Of course Kurt had told him about his audition and that he would stay back after class, but since everything had taken far more time than Kurt had anticipated, he needed to get going soon.

He told his friends this much, but they were reluctant to let him go just yet.

"Come on, Kurtie. We got to celebrate!" exclaimed Jeff. The boy had not left his side since the council's announcement and was successfully trapping Kurt with a vice like grip to his arm.

"Can't you stay a little bit longer?" tried David.

"Boys, really," Kurt sighed, "My Dad will worry. He expects me home."

"Just half an hour?" Jeff looked crushed. "Pretty please?" He stuck out his bottom lip, imitating something piranha-like.

"The physical appearance of the plea will not influence my decision, Jeff." Kurt's voice was stern, but his eyes twinkled amused.

Blaine, always the reasonable one, raised his hands peacefully. "Maybe we can postpone the celebration-party, a bit. Move it to … tomorrow, at lunch?"

Wes nodded encouraging. He had a skype-date planned with Nadine later on and would hate to miss it. Kurt still looked hesitantly, but the hopeful faces all around made him sigh resigning.

"If you insist," he murmured. Jeff cheered excitedly and Kurt asked himself once more what he had gotten himself into.

* * *

**Jgirl:** Possessive!Blaine, Jealous!Blaine, every Blaine is the best Blaine ;)

**LilShiho-Chan: **Vielen Dank :) Bis hierhin sind Nadine und Hannah Charaktere die mir sehr sympathisch sind (wenn man das über seine eigenen Kreationen sagen darf), weil sie die Möglichkeit bieten auch mal ein paar kontroverse Meinungen einzubringen. Meiner Meinung nach hatte Kurt zwar allen Grund sich angegriffen zu fühlen, doch er wird wie du schon sagstest nicht persönlich angegriffen, befindet sich in der Öffentlichkeit – kein guter Ort um eine Szene zu machen- und hat bis dato keinerlei emotionale Bindung zu Hannah. Deswegen nimmt er sich wohl lieber ein bisschen zurück :)

**ZomePeople13: **Oh my god, I don't know what to say. That was by far the sweetest thing anybody has ever written to me and now I can't stop smiling. Thank you so, so much for the beautiful and not in the least overdramatic words, the mesmerizing story and for making my day so much better. (Even though I was highly confused in the beginning: Is this an excerpt of my story? What I can't remember writing this? When was Kurt in a forest? - Oh. It's about- Ooh! Aaaw!)

**Lydia: **Thank you so much :) I'm glad you think so, because it was quite difficult to write it that way, because well … he's just … Blaine, but I think realism is more important than sympathy in that case.

**The-power-of-love: **Yes! Right amount is best amount : D Everybody loves the Klaine :)

**Cold Kagome: **Thank you, dear :) Hope you enjoy this, too.

**corneliaschuitema: **Thanks :) And you will have to wait and see ;)

**FostineFoli: **All the hilariousness to Wevid : D So, some Warblers interaction and there's sure to be more to come in the next chapters. As always: Thank you very much for your review :)


	9. Chapter 8

Hey everybody!

First of all: I'm sorry for the delay. University started two weeks ago for me and my schedule has been absolutely crazy. I can't guarantee that the next updates will be as regular as the last chapters were, but I'll try my best.

Thank you for all your reviews and support, feel free to comment, criticize, or remind me of updating gnahgnahgnah … the usual stuff. Have fun!

* * *

**~*~ Chapter Eight ~*~**

But I can't and I won't live a lie - No, not this time  
[Kevin Rudolf; Let it Rock]

**'Hybrid origins – Myths and Facts', or better Myths or Facts?"**

"Fascinating tales, surprising revelations and a lot of scientific drivel." This is how Lydia Hanver describes her newest book 'Hybrid origins – Myths and Facts'.

The non-fiction deals with the biological, as well as the mythical aspect of the heritage of hybrids and discusses controversial opinions. In the first chapters the author explains and analyses common myths, fairy tales and fables, throwing a closer look at repeatedly occurring figures appearing in stories all around the world. Above all creatures from the greek mythology where countless mixes between human and animal are known.

Even in the oldest book known to man, as Lydia Hanver calls it, the Bible it is believed in Hungary that when God took Adam's rib to form the woman a cat caught his hand and stole the rib. She tried to escape, but God got her tail and formed Eve. According to them this was the origin of the cat hybrids. Apart from that one of the most common representatives is probably 'The Puss in Boots', who in addition to his English relatives (Dick Whittington's cat) also has some female relatives. Depending on the continent the transformation and the type of cat can verify depending on the wild species in the environment where the legend was born. The term 'Cathybrid' only occurred in the beginning of the 19ts Century. Typical reasons for a transformation are throwing over an animal skin, complicated rituals, spells, curses, but also kinship with animals as mentions in some Celtic legends about ancient Scottish and Irish families.

After dealing with the mythological origin of hybrids Lydia Hanver puts it in conjunction with the biological aspects of the hybrid heritage. The results out of her research and her final conclusion will remain secret though. At least until the publishing of 'Hybrid origins – Myths and Facts' on the 23st of September, available in most public book stores.

* * *

"Alright son, it's time to stop moping around and take actions." Burt Hummel crossed his arms in front of his chest, a sure sign that he was not in the mood to argue and built up in front of his son. Ever since the disastrous breakfast on saturday morning Kurt had retired to his room, refusing to come out as long as Carole and Finn stayed over. Burt did not know in detail what had went down between the two boys, but from what he had heard and grasped from his son's mood, Finn must have seriously screwed up. That did not mean though that he thought of Kurt as completely innocent: He knew quite well how overly dramatic he tended to be, hating to admit when he was wrong and unknowingly hurting people with his sometimes brutal honesty. Right now he was curled up in front of the TV, tail occasionally sweeping over the backrest of their couch and his ears twitching irritably when his father blocked his view on his German soap opera. Alexander had just been about to propose to Maike, after all.

"You know my opinion on the topic, Dad." He crossed his arms defensively, trying to glare his father away. Sadly he seemed to be one of the few persons this did not work on.

"Yes, and I think it's hasty and not thought through. You can't expect Finn to read your mind. The boy's only repeating what he has heard." Outraged Kurt rose halfway from the couch, about to give his father a serious piece of his mind about hybridphobia and naivety, but Burt held up his hands in appeasement. "I'm not saying he was right, or that he is allowed to talk to you like that, but he won't be able to understand your anger unless he knows the whole truth."

Kurt sighed wholeheartedly. His anger had vanished as soon as it had arose, leaving him with the now familiar sinking feeling in his chest that has been there ever since their fight. He slowly chewed the inside of his cheek. This was not the first time, Burt had brought up the topic and surely not the last if Kurt did not start to seriously consider this option.

It was not like he expected Finn to completely freak out and beat him up, or run to the police, but given his reaction to the newspaper article and Kurt's view on hybrids, Kurt was pretty sure that he would not react very pleasantly to having a hybrid in his possible future family.

Sure, there was the chance that if educated rightly Finn could turn out understanding and even supportive, but still ...his whole life Kurt had been told to keep quiet. Never tell anybody. If they will find out … what if? During the last few days Kurt had considered his options and since his father did not seem all too fond of his suggestion to leave the country, cutting of the contact to the Hudsons was out of question. That left either ignoring the topic and forever avoiding Finn – not a very pleasant thought -, or as his father was suggesting revealing his secret to Finn.

All this though didn't change the fact that he barely knew the other boy. Nor did he trust him, or had had any experience with him that would Finn make earn his trust.

Even though … that could partly be his fault. After all he was the one avoiding the Hudsons for days now.

"I know Dad," he murmured conciliatory. "I just … don't trust him yet. Barely know him and I can't imagine revealing my secret to someone who has proven to be so narrow-minded, so stuck-up and senselessly - "

"Kurt," Burt said warningly.

His son rolled his eyes, but stopped his rant. "Yeah, sorry. What I meant was just that his opinion seems pretty set and I don't think that he would understand … my situation."

Burt ran his hand over his head,

"Alright kiddo, in the end it's your decision. But promise me to at least talk to him, okay?"

"Yeah, sure whenever I get the chance." _Like in ten years, or so._ He waved his hand dismissively. "Can I get back to watching my show now?"

"Sure thing." With a victorious smile, that had Kurt narrowing his eyes suspiciously, his father willingly retreated, casually walking towards the kitchen door. Right before leaving the room, he stopped though and turned towards Kurt.

"By the way … Carole and Finn are coming to dinner this evening in … say five minutes, or so," he told Kurt casually, quickly fleeing the room.

"What? Oh my god, Dad! What the hell?" He heard his son shout after him, while he trotted chuckling into his kitchen. If his son wasn't going to see reason, Burt would have to take matters into his own hands. Very capable hands, if he could say so himself, while he listened to his son swearing and rumbling downstairs. Probably covering up his tail and ears, before -

… The door bell rang. Speaking of the devil, Burt thought, practically prancing to the door – at least as much as was possible for a man of his height and weight – and greeting Finn and Carole cheerfully with a hug and in the latter case a chaste kiss on the cheek.

He and Carole had agreed that the Hudsons would bring take-out from a nearby Chinese restaurant, because hey, Burt was already on his son's bad side with the unannounced visit and all, so some unhealthy food would not kill him / why not go all out. Burt send Finn into the living room, where the boy happily settled in front of the TV, zapping through a reality show, one of Kurt's soap operas and finally settling on a baseball game. He saw Carole rolling her eyes fondly at her son, before she joined him in the kitchen. Together they unpacked their food, served it on different plates and were just about to reheat everything in the microwave, when a gloomy looking Kurt stomped up the stairs.

"Hello Carole," he growled through gritted teeth. "Lovely to see you."

She giggled amused, stepping forward and briefly hugging him. "Kurt, dear. I see your father managed to surprise you with our visit." Burt smiled apologetic, patting his son on the shoulder. Kurt promptly turned to avoid his hand and stubbornly glared at him. His father sighed, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at this behaviour. "Finn is in the living room," he mentioned casually. "Maybe you could go and join him?" For a moment Kurt looked like he wanted to protest, maybe start a fight to shirk from that conversation, but under the stern glance of his father his resolve faltered. So he just grunted something that could be counted as a 'yes', but also as a 'fuck off' and trotted into the living room.

Finn was launching on the couch, feet probed up and both arms thrown across the backrest right and left. When he spotted Kurt in the doorway he nearly fell of the cushions. "Oh, um Kurt … dude."

Kurt grunted in a greeting, shuffling towards the boy, only stopping when he was right in front of him. An awkward silence settled between them in which the only noises came from the TV in the background and Burt and Carole's muffled voices in the kitchen. Finn was shifting uneasily on the couch, eyes flickering between Kurt's grim face to the baseball game going on behind him.

"So …" Finn finally broke the tension. "Uhm, what's up?"

"My Dad thinks we need to talk," Kurt said monotone. A loud crash was heard from the kitchen and Kurt rolled his eyes. "And I absolutely share this opinion. Totally."

"Uh yeah, it's been kind of uncomfortable, right?" Finn offered, still unsure and if Kurt did not know any better, he would think that he even seemed to be … afraid of him? Well, maybe not afraid, but most certainly cowed and annoyingly this soothed Kurt's anger more effective than anything else had the past few days. You just couldn't be angry at someone who looked like a confused veal and was sprawled out like a starfish on your couch and yes, Kurt had been watching far too many animal documentaries lately, so what?

"Can I sit?" Kurt asked, still somewhat offish, but not longer deeply annoyed.

"'Course, dude! It's your house, after all." Kurt grimaced at the title, but lowered himself gracefully on the very end of the cushions. The room fell silent again and just as Kurt was about to open his mouth when he felt like he could not bear the tension anymore, Finn cleared his throat.

"Look dude … I know this fight was stupid."

Kurt's anger flared up again. "Finn, do you-"

"No, please, let me finish." Kurt harumpfed, but stayed silent. "My Mom tried to explain to me why you were so angry and while most of it sounded really complicated, god I had no idea someone could feel _that_ much, I think I understood it … a bit. She then also talked to me about hybrids a lot, but from that I didn't understand much either, but I couldn't tell her, because she hates it when she can't explain something and gets really sad ...What I want to say, I guess, is that after that talk I read a terribly long article about hybrids online, well not really online, also in a newspaper, dude did ya' know they have these on the internet, online? Isn't that awesome? Anyway it said a lot of very smart stuff about DNA and he … her … erm."

"A hermitage?" Kurt asked confused.

"No," Finn whined. "With more 'E's and an 'I', I think ..."

"Heredity?" Kurt tried again and Finn's face lit up.

"That's the one! I read about that stuff and didn't understand most of it, besides it was so long I didn't want to read it all, so I searched a little bit on youtube instead. It was much easier to understand everything on there and now I know that most of the things I said aren't even true! And that is so unfair, because everybody tells you these things and they just … aren't true! I don't understand this!" He looked honestly scandalized. "So, I wanted to tell ya' that you were right … What you probably already know, but I wanted to tell you anyway in case you didn't." He paused for a second, before remembering something. "And I'm sorry. About yelling and being wrong, I mean. Even though you yelled first and I had been in a bad mood anyway, having a really bad start in the day, fighting with Quinn and oversleeping, but Mom said that doesn't matter. So, ya' know: I'm sorry."

Kurt was rendered speechless. From everything he had expected as a reaction, an apology had surely not been among it. He had been prepared to yell, fight and maybe cry a bit, if it would help his case, but now … he had run out of reactions.

His father's words ran through his head 'He won't be able to understand your anger without knowing your situation'. But Finn had. In his own admittedly naive and simple way he had brought the main hybrids issue straight to the point and seemed honestly upset about it. Maybe … and that was just a thought, ready to be discarded again, but maybe he had been wrong about the other boy. Judged too quickly, set on too little information.

His silence must have gone on for too long, because Finn shifted nervously again. "Uhm, Kurt? Dude? Shouldn't you, I don't know, say something?" Then as an afterthought, he added: "Or are you still angry? Did I say the wrong thing again?"

"No! No, Finn you didn't say anything wrong at all." Kurt paused, still trying to sort out what was going on in his head. "I just -look, there is this thing. A legitimate reason why I was so upset about the fight and reacted quite … intense." Finn looked like he was about to comment the understatement, but an icy glare from Kurt made him close his mouth again. "The problem is this reason is, erm … a secret. It's a secret reason and now I don't know if I can tell you that secret."

He raised his head expectantly, like he anticipated Finn to know the answer to his dilemma.

What in hindsight was quiet naïve, but Kurt was confused and dangerously torn. On the one hand remained the image of the football playing, dumb, biased jock -Finn that Kurt had gotten to know during his last years of school, but right now that was definitely not the Finn in front if him. This Finn was truly remorseful, caring, admittedly a bit untaught and influenced too much by the wrong people, but with the honest intention of changing his views.

"Well, I've no idea what you're talking about, but ya' know if you tell me a secret I will keep it. Hay, that rhymed!" He grinned amazed of himself for a moment, before turning serious again. "I know everybody thinks I'm kinda' a chatterbox, but I'm good at keeping things secret … At least really important things."

Kurt stared at him for a few seconds, then he heaved a deep sigh. "I can't believe I'm doing this. Finn, what I'm going to tell you is a big, a really, really big secret. Probably the biggest you ever needed to keep and if you tell anyone, I mean it _anyone_ then I'll be in great danger." The other boy's eyes had widened dramatically during his little speech and he was nodding firmly.

"Okay." Kurt exhaled again, raising his hands to his hair. "Just … don't freak out, okay?"

He bit his bottom lip, considering his decision one last time, before he snapped open one of his clips. Fake hair, glue and clips disentangled from his ears, curling together in his hands like a little animal, before Kurt let it drop on top of the the couch table. Finn's eyebrows had wandered up to his hairline until then, mouth dropping open.

"You … there – You have ears," he stated disbelieving. A sarcastic retort on the tip of his tongue, Kurt freed his other ear, before crossing his arms self-conscious.

"Like … animal ears," Finn said slowly, mouth never really closing.

"Yes, thank you, Finn. I'm aware," Kurt bit back, having enough of the other boy's starring.

"Sorry, I just … can I touch 'em?" he asked eagerly, already extending a hand.

"What?" Kurt shrieked, cupping his ears protectively. "No!"

Finn's hand fell to his side again. "But dude! That would be _so_ cool."

"No," Kurt said firmly, ears twitching irritably, where he had left them unprotected again.

"Oh my gosh. They're moving!" Finn exclaimed excitedly.

"Of course they're moving. They're just as much part of my body, as my arm, or foot," Kurt replied annoyed.

"Does that - Wait, am I the only one that knows?" Finn's eyes grew big. "Because that would be so supernatural of you! Two brothers bonding over their secrets and all that."

Kurt willed himself not to roll his eyes and point out towards the boy just _how much_ was wrong with his statement. "No, Finn. You're not the only one. As far as human go my Dad knows, obviously, your mother, because she's working for my doctor, also some of the New Direction girls. You just can't have sleepovers with these… things in your hair." He gestured towards the knot of hair and clips on the table.

"Oh." Finn looked disappointed for a moment. "Wait. What about your doctor? Mom's boss, right? Doctor Leyfert. Doesn't he … notice?"

"Yeah, I forgot to mention that. He knows about me too, obviously. Such a drama to discretely find someone specialised on hybrids, without coming across suspicious. But we've some hybrid friends that pointed him out as trustworthy and tacit. It's him who runs through my monthly check-up." When Finn cocked his head, puzzled, Kurt continued to explain. "Every hybrid is obliged by law to let himself be examined at least once a month to test his physical, as well as psychic abilities. Doctor Leyfert has to send regular reports to the hybrid's office."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait. I thought this whole hybrid-thing's a secret? Super-mega confident?"

"You mean confidential," Kurt corrected mildly.

"Whatever dude. What's the point when the government knows anyway?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that," Kurt said, folding his hands neatly. "As you may have suspected by now I've inherited the hybrids gene from my mother." At Finn's blank face, he rolled his eyes. "Hybridism is inherited through a recessive gene complex, that only expresses when mother, as well as father are carrier of this – Finn! Are you even listening?"

The other boys gaze quickly snapped back to Kurt, where it had slowly drifted out of the window. "Uhm, yeah, 'course … Sorry dude. Just – Can I get the short form?"

"Fine, so I inherited the gene from Maman, who was of course registered by the government. As carrier of the gene complex she was observed closely when she met and married my father. As you know hybrids have a very poor position among our society and are often victims of prejudice and – Finn!"

"Sorry! I'm listening!"

"Alright, so Maman got pregnant, was observed extra carefully, there was no possibility of hiding her son's mutation and right after my birth a record in the hybrid office was created for me," he reeled down. "The first few years weren't that bad, at least that's what Dad told me. Sure, we were isolated and avoided from everyone, but other than that we lived our life peacefully abreast. Everything started when I got into kindergarten. Until then Maman had kept mostly to herself, Dad doing grocery shopping and interacting with our neighbours, so not many people knew about our … condition. My mother is originally French and as everyone knows the hybrid acceptance in Europe is much higher than here, so she was never ashamed, or shy to reveal her true nature. Unlike my Dad, who grew up in this country, knowing how narrow-minded people could be. He tried to convince her of hiding at least me, until the start of school, but Maman was insistent that there was no reason for her child to hide. Today I wish she had listened to Dad." He has to stop and take a deep breath, when there are suddenly tears in his eyes.

"My Dad refuses to tell me too many details, but from what I grasped it got pretty bad. Name calling, defacing our car and windows, there even was a petition trying to ban us. When I was eight Maman's car was hit by a truck, sending her over the guardrail and into a tree." He pauses again, pressing his hands together and avoiding Finn's eye. When he continues his voice is scratchy.

"Until today my father isn't certain that it really was just an accident, but nobody investigates in a hybrid's case, so ... The funeral took place two days after the accident. But while hybrids have the right to be buried and get a tombstone, no priest is obligated to attend, or lead through one of their funerals. My Dad was tired of fighting, so in the end it was him and me, who buried the urn. We were also the only ones attending the funeral. That evening after all lights were out, Dad came into my room and told me that we would have to go on a very long vacation. He had packed our bags and we left the town in the middle of the night, unseen and unheard. I remember driving and driving until dawn, when we stopped at some cheap motel. We stayed the day, but as soon as the sun has set we were back in the car, driving further. I don't really think Dad knew where he was heading. We continued travelling like this for weeks, staying the day in different establishments, always in motion. I think Dad tried to escape … just everyone and everything. Our past, the government, people in general. I had to wear big hats and remember hating them, because it was warm and itchy underneath them, but Dad insisted. One day, after nearly a month of flight, we arrived at our next location, morning dawning and were awaited by an official looking man in the hotel lobby. It turned out that he was an governmental employee, having followed and kept track of us. That was when Dad realised that there was no escape.

The employee expressed his sympathy concerning our loss, but strictly advised us to settle down and to stop drawing unwanted attention towards us. At that time we stayed at the state border of Ohio, having crossed Indiana a few days ago and so after detailed research we settled on Lima as our new home town." He took a deep breath and cleared his throat, dry from talking too long.

"The rest is history, I guess. I was made fun of all through Elementary school, because of the massive hats I had to wear everyday and tried to keep to myself the rest of the time. When I entered Middle School the harmless teasing developed to full out bullying and wearing hats, that anybody could snatch away became too dangerous. Besides while until then I had put together quite the collection, a hat just isn't an everyday accessories. It took over a year, but today I can finally leave the house, looking just like the average teenager and until today Dad and I've managed to keep my condition secret, apart from a few insiders."

Finn was silent for a minute, comprehending what he had just heard, before he raised his head, frowning. "But what about school? They're getting your medical infos, right?"

"That's why we're so happy to have Doctor Leyfert. He's experienced with cases like ours and knows who he needs to send my real medical records and who is going to be satisfied with the … edited version. Dalton, as well as McKinley have no idea that most of my documents are altered by him."

"Man, that's … huge," he exclaimed, stretching the last syllable. "And illegal, but in a totally cool ninja-agent-way!"

Kurt ignored the last part of the sentence, because _ninja- agents? Really? What is that even supposed to be? _And clarified one last time: "That's why it's so important to keep quiet about this, Finn."

"I know, dude. I promised!" Finn replied, honestly offended. "I'm taking this to my grave!"

"Well, let's hope that never happens," Kurt chuckled, feeling lighter than in days. "Oh, there's one last thing though ..."

Finn looked up worriedly. "Uh, yes?"

"Don't call me dude." Kurt crossed his arms at the same time that Finn's eyes widened comically.

"Wait, like … never?" he asked disbelieving.

"Well, if it's your birthday and the name accidentally slips, I won't bite your head of, but other than that … yes."

"B-but du- I mean, Kurt. What-"

"No."

Finn sticks out his bottom lip and pouts. Downright pouts and even though it's working a little bit, Kurt gaze stays stern, until the other boy huffs and gives in. "Fine, du- Kurt. This isn't going to work!"

Kurt rolled his eyes, patting his shoulder good-naturedly. "I'm sure you'll manage." In that moment Carole pokes her head in the room. When her eyes fall on Kurt's ears, her mouth opens in surprise. "Oh, uhm, wow. Kurt! I thought … Burt said … Never mind. Is everything alright, boys?" she asked carefully, gaze flickering between the two of them.

"Everything's great, Carole," Kurt replied affectionately. "We've just … finished."

For a moment Carole considered asking further, deepening the topic and demanding to know what had went down between them, but then she just shrugged. "Just wanted to let you know that dinner's ready."

Finn jumped up immediately. "Sweet!" he exclaimed, galloping towards the door and impatiently turning around, when Kurt does not follow quick enough. Under his accusing gaze, Kurt holds up his hands in appeasement, raising from the couch. "I'm on my way. What are we having?" he asked Carole, who shuffles nervously from one foot to the other. "Oh, er, that's a … surprise?" she murmured guiltily, before distractedly ushering them into the kitchen.

"A surprise?" Kurt asked disbelieving. "Why does this make me feel -oh my god Dad, is that Chinese take-out?"

* * *

FostineFoli: Thank you as always and I especially enjoyed writing Mercedes and Rachel ^.^

LilShiho-Chan: Daaanke :) Das letzte Kapitel hat mir bisher fast am meisten Spaß gemacht es zu schreiben … Besonders wegen Rachel und Mercedes. Ich bin grade viel zu müde um noch viel mehr zu schreiben, aber danke für das review, enjoy das aktuelle Kapitel und hab einen tollen Resttag (der hoffentlich entspannter ist als meiner).

Jgirl: :D … Thank you!

ZomePeople13: Aaaw :) I'm glad I could make your day! Maybe this will at least brighten up your wednesday ...

Cold kagome: Yaaay for Kurt!

Mrs Nessa91: Aha! A new reviewer! Welcome to my story : D Thanks for your review and you'll just have to wait and see ...

The power of love: Thank you ^^


	10. Chapter 9

Gnah *.* You people are the kindest! I was totally sitting there thinking 'Oh my I was so short with my answers and overall didn't read the last chapter through one last time before publishing, I wonder if its any good …' and then 'bum' I open my mail account the next day and TEN NEW EMAILS! TEN! I'm totally famous! Anyways: You guys are amazing and I currently life on sugar and your reviews, so be proud : D

* * *

**~*~ Chapter Nine ~*~**

When this day is through I hope that I will find

That tomorrow will be just the same  
(The Carpenters; Top of the world)

Bill No. Eight calls for new victims

Daly City, California, the sun casts shadows on the introspective market place of a suburb. Today everything seems peaceful here, no sign of the loud and aggressive protests that have taken place not even twenty-four hours ago. Only hours after the announcement that Bill Number Eight has passed yet another station of its critical path, streets and public places were flooded with hybrid-opponents. The police was unable to keep control over the situation, when the number of protestants increased with the hour and during several riots an overall of eight people suffered minor injuries.

As past experiences have shown the public wrath is not estimated to last longer than a few days, but until then Jason and Lilian Honower have called for a counter-movement.

"We expect over ten thousand [hybrid] supporters all around the globe to take part in the planned demonstrations against the injustice that holds our society in a death grip."

This evening starting from six p.m. hybrid campaigners all over the world are invited to join the protestants. "It [the demonstration] will start in front of every local hybrid office and yes – even though most people tend to overlook them, every community is obligated to have one," said Honower during a recent interview with the Washington Post. His goal is clear: Bill No. Eight has to make it past the committee, so it can be presented to the two chambers and elected on in the following week.

Until then, be prepared to stay updated when supporters and opponents will collide in merely five hours.

* * *

Blaine had overslept. He never overslept. Not since his first day of elementary school when his brother had thought it necessary to wake him by slapping an ice-cold washcloth right into his face. But he had been incredibly exhausted the day before, having barely gotten any sleep on saturday night due to an extended video games tournament in Wes' dorm room and it had already been late afternoon on sunday when realization struck that his biology essay was due tomorrow and he had barely outlined his topic yet. As anyone could have predicted the day ended with him asleep on his desk at about midnight the half-finished essay - mostly a patchwork made of copied sentences from various textbooks - used as a pillow.

That was why Monday morning found Blaine, ten minutes before the start of his classes with one leg in his pants, toothbrush in his mouth trying to gel his hair with the one hand, while the other was lost in a tangle of dress shirt, blazer and tie. Five minutes later he was rushing out of his dorm, tie slung over his shoulder, stuffing his shirt into his trouser with both hands, only to turn around after ten steps and run back because he had forgotten his schoolbag. After exiting his room a second time, he promptly ran into Wes and David, sending books and pens all over the floor.

Blaine heaved a deep sigh. This promised to be one of _those_ days.

"Why are you running so fast, B'?" Wes asked aloof, watching David and Blaine kneel down to pick up his friends belongings.

Blaine glared at him from the ground. "Why aren't you watching where you go?" he shot back, straightening up. Just now he got a proper look at his friends. "And what's in those - No, never mind I don't have time for this." He quickly snatched his bag out of David's hands, continuing to speed along the corridor, Wes and David hot on his heels.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Blaine asked. "Shouldn't you both be in class?"

"You weren't in morning assembly." David shrugged. "We were worried."

"Oh, shoot," Blaine murmured. "Did anybody else noticed me missing?"

"Well …" Wes stretched the syllable in a worrying matter. "Of course Kurt was very troubled about your absence."

"Practically in tears," David added helpfully.

"We could barely stop him from storming out and checking if you were kidnapped by a basilisk."

"Kidnapped by a -"

"_Only_ with both of our inexhaustible wits and charm could we convince him to stay and let us handle this case!" David nodded enthusiastically, while they were rounding a last corner, reaching their classrooms that were thankfully on the same corridor. Now they had a free view on Kurt, leaning casually against a wall, looking not the least bit in tears and scrolling boredly away on his phone.

"Hey Blaine," he greeted as they approached him, taking in the other boys dishevelled uniform and hair. "What happened to your … to your everything?"

"Slept in," Blaine answered distracted, rummaging through whatever he had thrown into his bag this morning and silently praying that his history textbook had been among those things. "God, this bag is like a black hole!" With a frustrated huff he dropped his belongings to the ground frowning helplessly at the mess of papers, books and parts of his uniform.

"Oh, Blaine." Kurt giggled quietly, pushing himself off the wall and carefully kneeling down. With a few resolute handles he separated Blaine's tie and blazer from his school supplies, sorting most of the latter back into his friends bag. When he straightened up again the pile in front of their feeds was neatly packed away, leaving Kurt with a Dalton tie and Blazer in his hands.

"Here let me help you," he murmured and Blaine suddenly found himself within kissing distance with the other boy, as Kurt laid both hands on his shoulders. Warm hands grazed his collar, as his tie was placed around his neck and both ends crossed in front of his chest.

"Thanks," Blaine whispered breathlessly, his warm breath ghosting across Kurt's face and he was pretty sure that his eyes were widened almost comically. At least considering Wes and David's not-so-subtle sniggering behind them. Still, Blaine could not help but feel disappointment wash over him, when Kurt finished tying and left his personal space again. Before he could dwell on it though – and think of an excuse that involved plenty of physical contact – the bell rang and students all along the floor groaned and trotted into their respective classrooms. Kurt, too, quickly grabbed his bag, threw a quick 'I'll see you in French' in Blaine's direction and disappeared towards the art spaces.

* * *

Blaine left his history class with a bad feeling in his stomach. David, as well as Wes had taken their usual seats to Blaine's right at the beginning of the lesson, but they had been acting … weird. And he meant weirder than normally.

For one, Blaine was pretty sure that neither boy would be able to recall a word said during their lesson, if someone - their teacher – asked them. That was nothing unusual, of course, since neither Wes nor David had any sympathy for their slightly disorientated teacher, Mr. Britton and on most days spend the lesson passing whispers, as well as little notes back and forth, until the bell rang. No, what really made Blaine feel uneasy was the fact that every time he had tried to participate in their conversation, catch a glimpse at one of their notes, or even just leaned slightly in their direction to borrow a ruler, his friends fell suspiciously silent, mouths snapping shut like traps and paper slips disappearing in pencil cases. As soon as he was leaning back though, safely out of earshot the hushed murmuring continued and Wes started scribbling something in a tiny black notebook.

Luckily Blaine's next lesson was French. A subject that involved neither of his suspicious acting friends, but instead Kurt, whose only suspicious tendency seemed to be the question how he made Blaine's stomach do this weird back flips whenever he smiled. As expected the lesson went by without a hitch and when Blaine exited the class room sixty minutes later, laughing along to something Kurt explained with a lot of hand waving, his earlier worries were all but forgotten. In the science corridor they met Jeff, who happily tagged along on their way towards the library, where he planed on meeting Nick in order to quickly copy his calculus homework.

"Jeff!" Wes suddenly appeared, squeezing himself between Jeff and Kurt, before slinging one arm casually around the confused looking boy. David, of course just as quick on his other side, grabbed Jeff's elbow. "We need to borrow you for a second." And with that the two boys dragged Jeff behind them to an inconspicuous looking door at the end of the corridor, where as far as Blaine was concerned cleaning supplies were stored.

Kurt blinked a few times, watching them go thoughtfully. "Did Wes and David enter some super-secret sect, or should I be concerned?"

"That was weird, right?" Blaine asked back. "And first I wasn't sure if I was imagining things, but now I'm sure they're up to something."

"I thought the were _always_ up to something?"

"Not the normal something. Something bigger."

"... You don't think they are still onto this whole 'Operation Niff'-thing, do you?"

Blaine sighed. "God, I hope not. I thought they had dropped the idea."

"Well, David _had_ a whole notebook dedicated to it," Kurt murmured, biting his bottom lip contemplatively for a moment, before his eyes widened. "Oh god and now they've kidnapped Jeff!"

"Relax," Blaine said. "They wouldn't be stupid enough to do anything that involves endangering his, or their own health. Especially not on school grounds … I think."

"You think?!"

"Uhm … oh, look! They're back. Completely unharmed. See, nothing happened and – Is that blood?!"

"What?" David looked confused down at his hand, that Blaine pointed at in shock. "Oh, no, sadly not. Just raspberry juice. I was all for using real blood, but someone" He threw a meaningful look at Jeff. "Said that that would be 'disgusting' and 'an unnecessary risk'."

"So … I'm almost afraid of asking, but why did you need a blood substitute?" Kurt asked slowly.

"It's not a substitute," Wes grumbled. "It's a symbol!"

Jeff ignored his friends protest, eagerly licking the sweet syrup from his fingers. "They made me sign some sort of contract." He stopped what he was doing, when Kurt and Blaine exchanged a wary glance. "Wait a second... you two didn't sign this too?"

Both boys shook their heads bewildered and Jeff's expression turned panicky. "What? But Wes and David promised me that those were your signatures above mine! I never would have agreed to do this otherwise!"

"Did you at least read what it was about?" Blaine asked carefully.

"I wanted to, but it was far too dark in that closet and since I thought you two were okay with it ..."

He trailed off and all three boys turned accusingly towards Wes and David.

"Uuh … what do you mean Kurt, we didn't hand you the paper this morning?" Wes blinked innocently up at them. "We'll have to correct that immediately!"

"Later," David added.

"At lunch."

"After class."

"Or, just tomorrow."

"Definitely soon- Oh, look there's Nick!"

"Hey Nick!" Wes waved exaggeratedly at his friend. "We need to talk to you for a second."

David nodded encouragingly, hot on Wes' heel. "Catch you later, guys!"

Jeff, Blaine and Kurt looked after them, as they sprinted out of eyeshot.

"You were right," Kurt stated after a moment, turning towards Blaine. "They are definitely acting weird."

* * *

Later that day Blaine and Kurt were on their way towards the cafeteria, shoulders heavy from carrying their books all day and stomachs aching for some sort of food.

"Ugh, I'm hungry," Blaine said, accompanied by an approving growl of his stomach. "I hope they still have these tuna-sandwiches for lunch."

"Blrgh, I hope not!" Kurt let out a disgusted snort. "They were polluting the whole room last time. David smuggled some of them into our English-class and made it impossible to concentrate on anything but his food. … Or the very loud and messy way he was consuming it, for that matter."

Blaine grinned widely, obviously not in the the least concerned about the contamination of their class rooms, before sticking out his bottom lip and pouting a bit at his friend. "But I _really_ like tuna!"

"Everybody _really_ likes tuna," Kurt stated, trying, but spectacularly failing in looking annoyed at Blaine's whine. "That doesn't mean that I support eating it in class."

Blaine let out an exaggerated gasp. "So, you're saying you _aren't_ a tuna-supporter?"

"I never -" Kurt started, cheeks puffed up in indignation, before he noticed his friends teasing smile. "God, you're a dork," he huffed, crossing his arms with an amused smile.

"And you're adorable."

Blaine screwed his eyes shut at his own words. _Real smooth, Blaine. The whole not coming on too strong thing is clearly working spectacularly. _After a moment, he opened them again, carefully risking a peek at his friend's reaction. To his surprise Kurt hadn't run off screaming so far, but was still walking peacefully next to him, the only indication that he had heard Blaine's last sentence a burning blush on his cheeks and the way he was biting his bottom lip and avoiding Blaine's gaze. Still, Blaine was almost sixty percent sure that a pleased smile was playing at the corners of his mouth and an almost inaudible 'thanks' was send into the silence between them. _All in all not the worst that could have happened._

They rounded a corner and every attempt at breaking the heavy silence that had settled between them was thankfully forgotten, when Kurt suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Blaine nearly bumped into him, only preventing a collision by hopping to the side and squeezing against the wall instead. His mouth was already opened in protest, when he got a good look at what exactly made Kurt halt and he squinted his eyes in disbelief, before heaving a deep sigh. "Wes. David. What are you doing on the floor?"

Said boys, half-lying on the dusty tiles whizzed around simultaneously, looking confused for a moment, before making exaggerated shushing motions and gesturing them closer. Apart from the fact that his friends were laying on the floor – and were probably on their best way towards a cystitis – Blaine was not able to make out anything out of the ordinary and that seriously worried him. Wes' and David's plans were normally risky and unexpected enough, even if everybody could see them. He and Kurt stepped closer, carefully avoiding any outstretched extremities, even though Blaine could not help but think that some well-placed bruises would only serve them right for all the worries they caused their environment. Part of him didn't even want to know what his friends were up to this time. Sadly an even bigger part of him was incredibly curious – always his downfall – and before he knew it, he was crouching down next to Wes, trying to follow his line of sight. Kurt gave him an amused look, but his expression quickly changed into one of disgust and he wrinkled his nose. "Ugh. What's this smell?"

"What smell?" Blaine asked, sniffing and turning his head questioningly. "I don't smell anything?"

"No, no, no! There's definitely something. It smells like oranges and … Christmas? Why does it smell like Christmas?"

"Uh ..." David murmured, eyes flickering suspiciously towards the doorway. Kurt and Blaine followed his gaze towards a little bunch of greenery, bundled together with a thin string and fastened at a small nail. The construct was small and at a closer look, also withered enough to be easily overlooked by anybody walking by.

Kurt narrowed his eyes. "Is that … a mistletoe?"

"Yep!" Wes exclaimed proudly. Blaine gave his friend an odd look, not sure if he was more surprised at a mistletoe hanging in the middle of a corridor three month after Christmas, or Kurt's ability to identify said mistletoe through it's smell alone. A smell, he still was not able to detect, by the way.

"O-kay ..." Kurt said slowly. A moment of silence passed between them, in which all four boys stared wordlessly at the plant in front of them.

Wes and David exchanged a look. David's finger started drumming impatiently on the floor. Wes's leg twitched restlessly next to them. "So ..." said David after a few more moments, syllable stretched annoyingly.

He looked expectingly between Kurt and Blaine.

When both boys stayed silent he huffed frustrated. "Aren't you going to ask?"

"Ask what?" Blaine said back innocently.

"You know what!" Wes snapped irritated, throwing his hands in the air and declaring with an unnatural high voice. "Why is there a mistletoe hanging from the ceiling? What are you doing here? Isn't this dangerous?"

"My voice does not sound like that!" Kurt exclaimed at the same moment as Blaine said: "Oh, so you _do_ realize that your behaviour isn't perfectly normal?"

"Acknowledgement is the first step towards improvement," added Kurt.

"Oh, come on!" David cried out. "We spent a lot of time planing this, so at least have the decency to ask!"

"Fine, if you insist," sighed Blaine, clearing his throat and striking his best surprised pose. "Oh, Wes! David! Whatever might be happening here? Was it your crazy, but kind of amusing idea to put a mistletoe on top of the cafeteria-door in the middle of march?"

Kurt started to giggle into his hand silently, while Wes considered Blaine with his best 'See, was that really that hard'- look. David grinned at them, about to say something, but then his eyes landed on something at the opposite side of the corridor and he hissed excitedly.

"Wes, Wes, Wes! It's starting!" he … well Blaine would have said 'squealed', but David himself would certainly rather have used a word like 'called', or even 'growled'. However it may be, his voice was dangerously high, one arm flailing in the air, while the other tapped rapidly against Wes' leg.

"Uh, let me see! Let me see!" Wes quickly robbed forward on the ground, stretching his neck to catch a glimpse at the on-goings around the corner. Kurt and Blaine followed his example and soon enough all four boys were watching as Nick and Jeff came into view, obviously engrossed in conversation.

"Target detected," David whispered. "Waiting for collision."

"Really?" Kurt whispered back. "That's what this is all about? You're still not over your 'Operation Niff'-thing?"

"'Operation Niff' is awesome. Now be quiet!" Wes hissed, nervously edging closer to the scenario.

"Oh, they're nearly there!" David giggled excitedly.

"Oh my god, I'm so excited!"

" … and they're getting closer, and clooser. Soon they're gonna' be there! Just a few more meters aand … they … just walked past it? What? No! That wasn't planned!" David exclaimed.

"Come on!" Wes urged. "We need to do something."

"Right, of course. Let's go!" David jumped up, quickly jogging after their targets.

"Nick! Jeff!" Wes shouted after them. "Wait up." Both boys turned and watched as Wes and David jogged in their direction, stopping right in front of the doorway.

"Wait," Blaine murmured, as Kurt stepped forward to follow them. "Let's … better stay out of this, okay?"

Cocking his head, Kurt considered him for a moment, before shrugging. Their hiding place gave them an excellent view on the happenings and Blaine was not at all opposed to the way Kurt leaned into his side to talk quietly. They observed curiously as their friends stared at each other for a moment, Nick and Jeff looking bewildered at the large distance between them.

"What's up, guys?" Jeff asked after a moment of confused silence.

David cleared his throat, eyes flickering panicky. "Uh, er, well … you see Wes and I were just … talking about you and how you two should really … walk through this door … again."

Their friends blinked at them. "What?"

David elbowed Wes in the side and the boy quickly started nodding. "Erm, yes totally!"

"What're you guys planning?" Nick asked slowly, precautionary taking a few steps back.

"N-noothing! Absolutely nothing! We swear!" David said quickly. A little too quickly and Nick observed his surroundings warily. Craning his neck in the search for anything out of the ordinary, he took a few more steps until he was standing mere centimetres from the doorway.

"Really, it's nothing," Wes said quickly. "Only ..." He looked around wildly, before his gaze settled on Kurt and Blaine huddled in the corner. "Blaine here … really wants to talk to you. Both of you."

Blaine's eyes widened and he quickly shock his head, backing away. "Uh, uh leave me out of this guys!" he called across the floor.

"You traitor!" David shouted back.

Wes, next to him finally seemed to have enough and pulling his hair in frustration he exclaimed: "Oh, for god's sake! Just step under the doorway!"

Nick's eyes narrowed warily. "Why?"

"Because you'll get a cookie?"

Jeff's eyes lit up. "Really?" He took a step forward, but was stopped by Nick, who still looked suspicious. "Not any further, Jeff. … There must be something with that doorway," he murmured thoughtfully. It only took him mere seconds from that, before his eyes widened and he withdraw even further. "Wes. David … Is that a mistletoe?"

David humpfed depressed. "We just wanted you guys to step under it ..." he admitted quietly.

Nick sighed. "I hate to repeat myself, but … why?"

"Uh, because … it was a bet?" Wes said slowly.

"A bet if we would step under a mistletoe?" Nick asked warily and Jeff next to him laughed.

"No, Nicky, I think they rather bet on us kissing," he stated amused.

Wes and David exchanged a quick glance, before nodding. Nick sighed again and opened his mouth, ready to give their friends the whole lecture about 'endangering and embarrassing other people for their own amusement', when Jeff spoke up.

"Well, we _are_ standing under a mistletoe." he blinked innocently up at Nick. The latter frowned confused, throwing a quick look towards the door frame, still several inches away from them.

"Uhm, no. Technically we're no- oh." He silenced when he caught on and met Jeff's eyes.

His friend smirked at him, mouth soundlessly forming the word 'okay?'. Nick, eyes still wide nodded frictional and then soft lips were pressing against his check. His eyes closed on their own accord and before he knew it the pressure was gone and Jeff was leaning back, smiling softly, before turning towards their baffled friends.

"Happy now?" he asked cheerfully, linking his arms with Nick's. Wes turned perplexed to David, their faces a matching expression of disbelieve.

"Y-yes, of course," David murmured monotone, still far too shocked to show any real emotion.

"Wonderful! Let's go eat, then." Jeff grinned, skipping towards the cafeteria. "I'm so hungry I could eat a whole cow!" Nick laughed quietly and let himself be pulled along, out of the room. Their four friends were left behind in stunned silence and in the end it was Blaine who spoke up first, not sure if he was more surprised, or amused by what had just happened. "Well, that … didn't go as expected?"

"Didn't go as – that was an absolute disaster!" David cried out, while Wes searched frantically something in his bag, murmuring conspiracies under his breath.

"Oh, come on guys. Even you have to admit that the plan was idiotic – and incredibly clichéd, if I may say so –," Kurt said with a roll of his eyes, "I mean, what did you expect to happen?"

David blinked at him like it was the most obvious question in the world. "Well, they would kiss, realize their undying love for each other and thank us for all of eternity."

"Obviously," Wes added, pulling out the small black notebook, dedicated to their current operation.

Blaine shook his head in disbelief. "Obviously."

"But from all the possible outcome …" David mused, while he watched Wes flipping through the book, adding scribbled notes every here and there. As David got out his own pen, Kurt stepped behind them, reading over their shoulders and raised a sceptic eyebrow.

"You expected the attack of a tiger, but not that reaction?" he asked incredulous, causing Blaine to laugh baffled and exclaiming "Seriously?", while he tried to get a better look at the page titled 'Operation-Niff -Plan A -Part B – 26: The sudden appearance of exotic predators'. David snaps the book shut with a piqued face. "Well, since that didn't happen," he said, ignoring Wes' murmured 'Or at least not yet' and pressing his hands together enthusiastically. "How about some lunch, now?" He turned to leave, Wes right behind him. Kurt and Blaine exchanged a resigned look, before following and Blaine thanked the stars that he didn't share any classes with Wes or David later on. This would at least give him another two hours of freedom, before he had to deal with their scheming again.

Because when something is already titled with Plan A, Plan B cannot be far. And Plan B, Blaine really did not want to see in action if Plan A was any indication.

* * *

It took Blaine precisely two more hours to finally find out what Wes and David had been up to.

It was at that time that the bell rang, announcing the end of their chemistry lesson and he and Trent, the only one of his friends who shared the lesson with him grabbed their bags, threw a quick goodbye in the direction of their teacher's desk and headed out of the door. Kurt awaited them in front of their class room and together they continued their way, soon joined by a glum looking David, who was still dwelling on the failure of 'Operation Niff'. Conversation flowed easily between them, teasing banter exchanged just as fast as complains about various teachers, when they suddenly stumbled over Wes in an abandoned corridor, that was rarely used for any lessons, but an effective short-cut on their way out of the building. He was standing in front of a wall, staring transfixed at the closed door of one of the unused classrooms a few meters away.

"Uhm, what're you doing?" Blaine asked carefully, stepping closer and Wes quickly shushed him.

"I saw Nick and Jeff disappearing in there a few minutes ago," he explained in a whisper, "They haven't come out ever since and I don't know what's going on!"

David nodded slowly, considering his friend with an odd look. "Have you thought about … opening the door?"

"But ho-ow?" he whined and Blaine and Kurt exchange a look.

"Well, in normal cases the person would probably cross the corridor, stretch out their hand and lie it on the doorknob -"

Wes interrupted him, looking offended. "Hardy-har-har. But, do I knock beforehand? Just bark in? Announce myself?"

Blaine rolled his eyes. Sometimes he seriously asked himself how any of his friends even survived ... school … their social life ... anything really. Anyway, since non of the others made any attempt at advancing the situation, Blaine decided to take it upon himself to make the few steps until he was in front of the room and carefully opened the door.

He was met with the sight of Nick and Jeff. Nick and Jeff kissing. Lip-locked, in a tight embrace, very obviously having been at it for more than a few moments.

Blaine, hand still on the door handle, froze in his movement and couldn't do anything but stare at the scene on front of him. Even Kurt, stumbling into his back and silently cursing, until his eyes flickered over Blaine's shoulder and all his breath left him with a perplexed 'oh', was not able to snap him out of his trance. He felt a push from behind, quickly followed by another, that announced the arrival of Wes and David.

"Oh my god," Wes breathed behind them.

"It worked!" David exclaimed, much louder, sounding just as baffled as Blaine was feeling and causing Nick and Jeff to break apart. They stumbled back, hair and clothes messy and heads whipping in the direction of the sudden noise.

"W-what worked?" Jeff asked confused after a moment, blushing under his friends stares and discretely whipping at the corner of his dark-red mouth.

"Our plan," David answered, eyes transfixed on their kiss-swollen lips. Blaine elbowed him in the side, murmured 'Stop staring' in his direction and willed himself to follow his own advise. It was not any help that Kurt next to him had not stopped muttering 'I can't believe that worked.' under his breath, over and over again ever since they had entered the room.

"Hah, I knew there was a plan," Nick said triumphantly, though he is still busy fixing his dishevelled appearance, "Wait … what was the plan?"

David opened his mouth, probably about to get out his notebook and 'The something mission to make Nick and Jeff stop doing something to get them together'-speech, that Blaine could not remember correctly if his hair gel depended on it, but Jeff – always the only one able to follow the operations of his friend's brains – suddenly started laughing. Nick looked even more confused, as his eyes flickered between the giggling Jeff, Kurt and Blaine who still did not seem sure if they could believe their eyes and Wes and David, practically gloating with pride as they studied the outcome of their mission.

"I would say we can declare 'Operation-Niff' a total success!" Wes announced happily, pulling out their notebook and flipping towards the last few pages. Jeff was still cackling manically beside them, but managed to catch his breath long enough to consider his friends with a sly smile.

"Well …," he stretched the syllable delighted, "You could. If … it weren't for a tiny-winy, absolutely important, little fact that you … somehow managed to overlook."

David frowned at his expression, capping his pen which had already spelled the words 'Mission ac-' and turned towards the boy.

"What … fact?" Wes next to him asked, carefully keeping any emotion out of his voice.

"Oh!" Nick exclaimed. He had mouthed the words 'Operation-Niff' thoughtfully during their little exchange and finally puzzled the pieces together. A wide smile overtook his features. "This is too good! But guys, seriously: You could've just asked."

"Yeah, because that would have saved you lots and lots of planning, preparation, thinking about possible operation names … all that and Nicky and I could've simply told you that 'Operation-Niff' as you call it has already been completed weeks ago." He grinned triumphantly, intertwining his hand with Nick's.

"W-what?" Wes stuttered, looking helplessly towards David, who looked back just as helplessly and Kurt leaned close, into Blaine's personal space to whisper excitedly: "Oh god, this is soap-opera-gold! Is anybody writing this down?"

"Wes," David whined pitifully, "They've destroyed our plan!"

"I think you destroyed your own plan to begin with," Kurt corrected amused, "You seriously have never considered talking to them directly?"

"Directly-schnirectly," Wes murmured, "Nobody could've suspected that." Jeff had to hide his grin in Nick's shoulder.

"So, hold on," Nick said, one hand coming up to rest on Jeff's neck. "I get the whole mistletoe-thing, but what did you make us sign?"

"Oh, that?" David said, "That was just precautionary for Plan B."

"A shame that there was no need for that," Wes sighed, looking wistfully down at their notebook, "It was brilliant ...Oh! Here's your dorm key, by the way." He pulled a small key out of his pocket, handing it towards Nick.

"I-what? How did you even?" he stuttered and Jeff curiously accepts the key, observing it carefully for anything out of the ordinary.

"Well, as amusing as this has been," Kurt interrupted, shouldering his bag. "I'm afraid I've to head home now, before something truly disturbing happens."

"Already?" Blaine can't help but pout at that – something he seemed to be doing increasingly often in the other boys presence -, but Kurt just smiled apologeticly at him.

"I'll see you tomorrow, though?"

"'Course," Blaine answered and following an inspiration, leaned forward and hugged his friend briefly. "See you then."

Kurt considered him with a last look Blaine couldn't really define, before calling a quick goodbye to the rest of them and skipping out of the room.

* * *

This week's Warblers practice seemed to drag on forever. A week ago, anticipating his audition and taking in all the unfamiliar processes had made the two hours practically fly by, but today every second seemed hours long. This could have something to do with the fact that this day's agenda was the exact same as last weeks. As Wes had explained enthusiastically that the council was not quite satisfied with their at that time final version of Bruno Mars' 'Treasure' and had added three different harmony options during the week. That left them practising the same song again and again over the course of the two hours practice, until Kurt was ready to punch _someone_ in the face if said _someone_ would suggest 'Good job, but let's try this again, altering …' one more time in that irritating cheerful voice.

Finally … finally practice came to an end and Kurt, keen on finally getting home was already on his feet and halfway through the room when David called him back.

"Kurt, wait up for a second!" Kurt's shoulders slumped, as he turned around once again.

"Erm, yes?" he asked carefully, eyeing the door hopefully. David's grin was dangerously bright, as the rest of the Warblers gathered around them.

"Kurt 'I still don't know your middle name' Hummel –"

"Oh my god. You _are_ going to sacrifice me."

"What? Why would we- Never mind. It's fish and chips tuesday and if we don't hurry there'll only be brown fries left. You know, the mushy ones, always left at the bottom of-"

"David," Wes warned.

"Right … what I wanted to say was, that among the Warblers there has been a tradition to welcome our newest members with a special gift."

Blaine stepped forward, proudly presenting a cage-shaped form, covered by several white clothes. Muted chirping could be heard from underneath it.

"Warbler Kurt. Will you accept the ongoing tradition-"

"Is that a bird?" Kurt interrupted, eyes wide.

"Erm .. yes, but I was coming to this. So, Kurt will you continue the tradition and accept our offer of-"

"You can't give me a bird!" Kurt's voice was unnaturally high and he slowly started to backtrack, taking step after step away from Blaine and the cage in his hands.

"I- what? Of course we can. Now, Kurt, one last time: Will you accept this Warbler as a representative of –"

"No! You don't understand! You. Can't. Give. Me. A. bird," Kurt repeated very slowly.

Irritated, David finally dropped the ceremonial behaviour,looked unsure throwing his hands up in frustration.

"And why the heck not?!"

"Uhm … because – I- just … don't like .. birds?"

"You don't like birds?" Blaine asked slowly, while David next to him seemed to have a tiny break-down. "Doesn't like birds … that has never happened before! What to do? Has there ever been a reference case? Oh god, how are we going to explain this to -"

"Deep breaths, David. Deep breaths," Wes instructed, soothingly rubbing a hand up and down the other boys back. "No need to hyperventilate. We're prepared for this kind of situation."

"We are?" David asked bewildered, while Wes flicked open an used looking little booklet.

"The twenty-second of September Nineteen-hundred-eighty-five; Newest Warblers addition Geoffrey Williams proves his incompatibility with his Warbler companion by a severe feather allergy. It is decided among the council that Warblers can be exempted from their care-duty by presenting a reasonable cause for their declination. It is among the council to determine a suitable replacement." With a defying thud the book clapped shut and Wes raised his head to look at them. Blaine frowned thoughtfully for a second, before saying: "So, that means if we find someone who is willing to take care of little Pavarotti here -"

"You already named him?" Kurt asked amused.

"And after an Italian opera singer, nonetheless," Wes added. "He seemed to be more the British country singer – type to me, but to everyone their own opinion."

"But that would work, wouldn't it?" Kurt asked. "Not the name – even though its a nice one -, but if we find a substitute for me?"

Wes nodded decisively. "In reference cases other new members just were assigned to take over the duty, but since you're our only addition these days ..." He trailed off, fixing his gaze pointedly on Blaine.

Blaine stared back at him. Then his eyes flickered to the cage in his hands, still fully covered much to the dismay of its inhabitant. Accompanied by irritated chirping Blaine lifted his gaze again, eyes finally widening in understanding. "Oh. Oh! Well, I would be honoured to take care of Pavarotti. That is, if Kurt doesn't mind?" He looked questioningly at the other boy, who quickly shock his head.

"Oh no, no, no. No! Not at all! Keep him! Forever!" He all but screamed, waving his hands panicked in front of him and carefully bringing more distance between him and the cage. The Warblers stared at him, bemused. "Erm … only as long as you want … is what I meant to say … of course."

"Alright …" David broke the tense silence. "I then consider this matter decided? Yes? Yes. Excellent! Let's go and eat!" And with that he rushed out of the door, the rest of the Warblers hot on his heels. In the end the only ones left were Kurt, blinking perplexed, Blaine, finally freeing the bir- Pavarotti and Wes, who looked a bit confused as to what had just happened and hesitantly banged his little gavel on the council table. "Uh, meeting dismissed?"

"Excellent," Kurt smiled relieved, grabbing his bag. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." He headed for the door, only stopping when he was already in the floor. "Oh, and Blaine?"

Blaine looked up, from where he had tried to stick one of his fingers through the bars of the cage, petting the little birds beak. "Uh, yes?"

"Thanks for … you know – the whole bird-thing." He performed a little hand-dance that could be interpreted as a thanks, as well as a goodbye and disappeared into the corridor.

"That was odd," Wes stated moments later, after they had left the room and were walking side-by-side to the cafeteria.

Blaine, cage in hand and bag slung over his shoulder, nodded. "I don't know what has gotten into him."

"Maybe it has something to do with his old school," Wes said thoughtfully.

"The fact that he … doesn't like birds?"

"Maybe there was an incident …. With birds." Wes shrugged. "A visit to the local zoo and somebody locked him into the cage."

"Well, he _seemed_ to be quite panicked," Blaine admitted. "Maybe we should ask him tomorrow."

"You think he would answer us?"

"We _are_ his friends, after all." They rounded another corner, before reaching the Dalton cafeteria, already packed with loudly chattering boys.

* * *

With a relieved sigh Blaine closed the door of his dorm behind him. Most of the other boys were still downstairs, trying to trick the woman behind the counters into giving them a second, or in some cases even third helping, so the floors were still thankfully silent. Quietly humming to himself, he dropped his bag on the floor and his body on his bed. With practised ease he grabbed his laptop from his night stand, placed it in his lap and opened his internet browser, where a silent ping informed him about the arrival of three new emails. One was a simple prom dress commercial, that wandered into his spam-file, just as quickly as it showed up. The second one informed him of the availability of an ordered DVD, but it was the third that made his breath hitch and hands shake as he clicked to open it.

_From: _

_To: blainedanderson _

_Subject: Please_

_Dear Blaine,_

_I have to say, I honestly have no idea how to start this mail. I know, I'm probably the last person you expected, or wished to hear from, but I still feel guilty over breaking contact between us back then._

_Tell me, how are you? How has your year been so far? Let me tell you, mine has been un inferno of a year. That's also one of the reasons why I'm writing this. _

_The last few months have been rough for me and I would really like to talk to you. Just two friends getting coffee, I promise. Maybe it would help you as much as me. _

_Mi manchi,_

_Seth_

Wide eyed, heart pounding loudly in his ears, Blaine looked up.

He had been right, after all. It was one of _those_ days.

* * *

**Holy bleep, guys did you see? Did you notice? There's plot! Actual plot! Never thought we would get that far, but, oh well ...**

**Urmeline**: Thaaaank you! But you know, I would be nothing without my amazing beta! I'm so glad that the plot is finally progressing and I'm looking forward to writing the next chapters! And … ahaha who needs homework anyway?

**CorneliaShuitema**: Here's more Klaine for you! Also: I'm so glad you like the story ^.^ Of course Finn will continue dropping by in the future chapters, especially when Kurt is at home, so you can look forward to that.

**Cold Kagome:** Thank you, lovely. Hope you enjoyed as always :)

**MrsNessa91: **Hey there again :) I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit longer, but (when everything goes according to plan) it shouldn't be too long. So, no worries ;) And I totally get what you mean concerning Finn. He's quite naïve, but manages to be very sweet regardless.

**ZomePeople13: **Did you just call me dude?! : D And yay for that. I actually planned on including more about Kurt's past and background in the next chapter, so you're going to find out very soon. Thanks for all the praise *.* You're the sweetest! See you next chapter!

**Jgirl**: Yay! I considered letting this chapter take a darker pace, but then I thought that there has (and will be) already been enough drama in Kurt's life.

**FostineFoli: **So glad you liked it :) You can look forward to a bit more Furt in the next chapter (I think …).

**Expect1patronus**: Thank you so much :) Always glad when there's a new reader! Hope you liked this chapter, too.

**The-power-of-love: **Well, you just have to wait and see … but thanks for the review :)


	11. Chapter 10

Hello lovelies!

The longest chapter so far and even in time? I'm a proud girl tonight! Actually I'm on the highest high, ever since the first glee episode, but I guess that's pretty standard among us gleeks.

And I forgot to mention last chapter: If you look for suitable fanart to the whole Pavarotti-situation check out the tumblr of Inkforest! She's an amazing artist and the idea for this scene has been inspired by the so far only klaine comic she ever drew! Found under Inkforest dot tumblr dot com slash image shlash 47550674719

* * *

**~*~ Chapter Ten ~*~**

Tomorrow is another day  
And you won't have to hide away  
(Run boy run; Woodkid)

**Bill No. Eight passes committee - "Today the sun is shining!"**

_Hybrids celebrate the advancement of their rights and America is in uproar._

Political opponent Richard Morwin followed Jason Honower to Washington D.C., where the final election of the hybrid committee has taken place.

Not even ten months ago bill no. eight, supporting hybrid rights made its first appearance in the media, while it was first proposed to the American congress on january, the 18th. Today, a lot of political speeches, demonstrations and scandals later, it has finally been presented to the hybrid congress and passed it's last election yesterday at ten o' clock.

In Morwin's speech given only hours after the final decision, he called for a stronger intervention of the American government in the decision: "This bill is not ignorable. We should not be under the illusion that our lives will continue unmolested if we let it pass. It will make it's affects shown to everybody, at any time and that the government still thinks it can sit by while this happens is unacceptable!"

Funny that, taken out of context his words resemble Jason Honower's speech held at the same day almost unmitigated. The hybrid supporter emphasized that despite enormous progress in the fight for hybrid rights the path of the bill is not finished yet: "Even if – and I have little doubt in that – bill no. eight has finally passed, this will be by no means the end of our struggle for hybrids. We'll need to continue fighting for us, for our children and for a better country, until one day hybrids are an accepted part of society, just like humans."

The most important thing, according to Honower, is to keep the mistreatment of hybrids in front of the public eye and prevent them from forgetting, or ignoring the issue. Besides that the hybrid community needs to stay hopeful and let themselves not be brought down by criticizers.

"Today is a day to rejoice in the success, but of course there are always people who refer to what has not been achieved yet," Honower orated and cheerfully adds: "But today the sun is shining."

* * *

Kurt was worried about Blaine.

Well, actually Kurt was worried about a lot of things, beginning with an advanced biology test and expanding to the anxiety of potential awkward encounters with Finn. After their revealing talk the weekend before, his father's and Carole's relationship had blossomed and the only occasion she and her son were leaving their house now, was to sleep, or do their laundry. Kurt loved to see his father happy and Finn had taken in the new situation surprisingly well so far, accepting their new lifestyle whole-heartedly and seemingly eager to learn any- and everything about hybrids and their society, but the new situation hid difficulties. Suddenly having to adjust his life to two more people in his house was anything but easy. During their years of living alone, Kurt and his father had worked out a perfect interplay between work and school, combining their individual talents and optimizing the efficiency of their household. Needless to say that incredibly clumsy and naïve Finn and his good-hearted, but overprotective and far too yielding mother, disturbed the carefully found balance.

But even with all that on Kurt's plate, Blaine was currently on the top of his list. His friend – best friend / crush / potential love-interest – had been acting weird, ever since Warblers practice on tuesday. Not Wes and David – weird, but definitely different from normal, throughout distracted and loosing himself repeatedly in his own head. Not even Nick and Jeff's cuddling and cooing could get him to leave his thoughts and join Wes and David in their teasing or Kurt in his squealing.

At first Kurt had suspected that it had something to do with his own questionable behaviour concerning what he secretly called 'The one time a bird – Pavarotti, as Blaine insisted to call him - nearly revealed my deepest secret' - incident, but then it would be only logical for Blaine to limit his strange behaviour on the interactions between the two oft them. That was not the case and a quick consulting session with Wes, David in the time Blaine needed to use the rest room, confirmed that Kurt was not the only one concerned about their friend.

The solution? Well, Wes and David had worked out a complicated sounding talk-argue-discuss-convince-talk again - action-chain, but Kurt was a hybrid of simple methods and decided to take the direct route out of the problem by confronting Blaine. ...Which was a lot easier said than done, since between school, Warbler's practice, Blaine's weekly fencing lessons and of course his uncontrollable urge to help everybody with everything – weather appropriate or not – Kurt found it nearly impossible to find an undisturbed moment together.

It was friday when he finally got a hold of him.

"Hey. Hey! Blaine! Wait up!" Kurt called across the room, jogging forward to catch up with Blaine's retreating figure.

"Kurt, I'm sorry, but I really don't have the time-"

"Oh, for the love of-" Kurt huffed irritated, taking two large steps and effectively blocking Blaine's way out of the room. He then turned to look at his friend seriously. "Blaine, do you think I'm stupid?"

"Uh ..." Blaine replied, not sure if there was really an answer required from him.

"For your information: I'm not." Blaine quickly closed his mouth, nodding approvingly.

"And neither are Wes or David for that matter. Do you really think we didn't notice how weird you've been acting lately?"

"I haven't- Well, maybe I've been a bit inattentive, but-"

"Blaine," Kurt interrupted him quietly, gently laying a hand on his forearm. "I'm not here to lecture you and if you- if you really don't want to talk about it, nobody's forcing you. I'm just- We're just really worried about you." His voice got quieter and quieter during his little speech, until his next sentence was barely louder that a whisper. "You- you would tell us, if something serious had happened, wouldn't you?"

"Oh, Kurt," Blaine whispered. To his embarrassment he felt tears prickling at the back of his eyes. "It's nothing like that, I promise. I, uhm- Well a few days ago an old friend contacted me and asked if we could meet. Since then we've been writing mails back and forth and we'll see each other next week for the first time in … it must be over a year now."

"Wow, must be one hell of a friend if he can make you that muddle-headed."

Blaine laughed, scratching his neck. "You could say that."

Kurt's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Something about the way Blaine was blushing just wouldn't sit right with him. "And … where do you know this friend from?"

"Oh, we went to the same school in freshman-year."

Frowning confused, Kurt asked: "So, he is a student at Dalton?"

"No, no, no! God, I can't believe we haven't talked about that yet. I've been at Dalton only barely over a year. I transferred in the middle of my freshman-year from a nearby public school."

"_You_ were at a public school?" Kurt recoils at his own tone, ears trying to press flat against his head. "I mean- you just seem so … not-the-public-school-type." Because Kurt had never met a boy at public school worth swooning over. Someone friendly, with good manners,gorgeous – Kurt cleared his throat and fought desperately against the blush rising on his cheeks.

"Yeah, well that seemed to be a popular opinion." For a moment something dark fluttered across his face, but then he was smiling again, bright and carefree and Kurt was not sure if it was just his imagination running wild.

Frowning at himself, Kurt took up the original topic of their conversation again. "So, that's the only reason for your distractedness?"

"Yeah, sure. It's cute that you worry, but that's really not necessary." He squints at Kurt in the most endearing way. "All your worries settled now?"

"I guess … if you're sure -"

"I am, absolutely. Uhm, and I promised my friend to mail him again today after school, so ..." Blaine trailed of, eyes flickering between Kurt and the door.

"Oh. Sure. Don't let me stop you." He stepped out of the way, reluctantly. Blaine waved offhandedly at him, leaving the room without as much as a second glance back.

"And a nice weekend to you too," Kurt muttered. He looked after him, shaking his head.

* * *

Saturday morning found Kurt curled together on his desk chair, tail slung loosely around the edge and brow furrowed in concentration as he brooded over a diagram of the nitrogen circle.

He hated biology.

No, that was not entirely true. Actually he liked biology, fascinated by the operations of the human body and the passion and patience their teacher conveyed her knowledge with. Just at the moment, when he had to memorize complicated chemical formulas instead of finishing the current Vogue, or doing some online shopping, yes in this moments he hated biology. Especially when he noticed that he had spent the past minutes blankly staring at the page in front of him, lost in thought.

With a frustrated huff Kurt clapped the book shut. A little shopping-break surely could not hurt and afterwards he would be able to finally concentrate on his work. Right? Right.

He had just cleared his desk from any distracting school supplies and set up his laptop, when there was a knock at the door. Without any further warning his father's head appeared in the doorway. "Hey bud. What's up?"

Kurt jumped in his chair, ears pressed flatly against his hair and teeth baring, before he got a hold of himself. "Dad!" he hissed. "Didn't I tell you to wait for an answer, before you barge in like that?"

"Uh, sorry. Will think of it next time," Burt muttered, hands held up in appeasement and Kurt had to held back a sarcastic 'Yeah, sure'. His father grinned guiltily at him, before his eyes fell on the computer in front of him. "Didn't you said you were busy with homework?"

Kurt's mouth opened in protest. "But I- I was! I was just … ugh. Nevermind. Did you want something specific, or …?"

"Wow, manners, son," Burt chastised and when Kurt sighed a quick apology, he continued. "I was simply making sure that you hadn't forgotten our plans for today."

Kurt stared at him with a lost expression for a few seconds, until his father rolled his eyes. "Visiting the office? Today? Around five?"

"Oh. Oh! That was today? What time it is?"

"Nearly four. The chance of you remembering an appointment were pretty slim, after all."

His son moved head and tail in a 'yeah, yeah' gesture, before shooing him out of the room.

"I need to shower, change and am not sure if I'm able to limit my schedule to even less than an hour, so shu-shu," he announced and Burt quickly backtracked out of the room.

"I'm leaving at point five," Burt reminded, causing Kurt to roll his eyes. "With, or without you."

And with that the door was closed between them.

* * *

At exactly five o' clock – or, maybe it was twelve minutes after five, but who really cared about such minor details – Kurt rushed up the stairs. One of his hands was still busy stuffing his tail under the elastic band of his sweatpants – something he would normally refuse to be seen in, but currently practical beat fashionable -, while the other dragged his bag after him and ignored the concerning 'thump' it made every time it passed another stair.

"M' ready!" he announced, nearly stumbling into his father on the landing.

"Uhu," Burt said doubtfully, "Are you aware of the fact that I can still see your ears?"

His son considered him with his best 'Really, dad?'-look, before producing a furred aviator hat out of his pocket. "That's why I've this on me!" He smiled cheerfully, while dropping the headgear over hair and ears. Sweatpants and fur hat, he probably transpired homeless, but where they were going looks mattered as much as your facebook status. Besides he would probably get rid of the hat as soon as they arrived.

Suddenly Finn appeared in the doorway, nearly giving Kurt a stroke, because since when was the other boy in their house and had he been here since last night's dinner? On the other hand he could hear Carole humming upstairs and the screaming and cheering out of the living room strongly hinted on some sports game screaming.

"You guys going to the store?" Finn asked taking in their bags and coats. "Can I come?"

"Uh ..." Father and son exchanged a glance. "We're not going to the store," Burt said carefully.

"Oh." Finn frowned, disappointment clearly written on his face. "Where are you heading then?"

"The local hybrid office." _Or close by, anyway_, Kurt added in thought. He was still debating with himself whether, or not to give out more information, when Burt spoke up: "There's an establishment in the cellars of the office, where hybrids and their friends and family meet regularly. Just to chat, catch up with the latest political decisions and … you know – be themselves. Kind of like a youth centre, only for hybrids."

"Wow. I didn't know something like that existed!" Finn exclaimed and Kurt had to press his lips into a thin line, to stop himself from snapping.

"Yeah, well we're pretty exclusive. We try to involve as little people as possible, to keep safe." It did not seem like Finn had been listening to him, because his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and he was already grabbing for his jacket. "That sounds _so_ awesome! I wanna' come!"

Burt considered him with a reproving eye and crossed his arms.

"Uhm, I mean … Can I come? Please?" Finn said quickly, turning towards Kurt for support, because he very obviously had not registered a word of what the latter had tried to tell him.

On the other hand though … Finn had taken everything concerning hybrids and their lifestyle surprisingly well and the relationship between Carole and his father was slowly turning into something more serious, so he should maybe get used to involving the other boy in his life. Burt was obviously coming to the same conclusion, shrugging and muttering a 'That's fine with me'.

Kurt nodded along, cringing when Finn slipped into his boots eagerly and yelled up the stairs:

"Mom? I'm going with Kurt and Burt to some super-secret hybridplace! Will be back at dinnertime!" Father and son stared aghast at him.

"What? Aren't we going to be back around dinnertime?"

Burt chocked on his own laugh, as he tried to maintain a straight face. "No, everything's fine, boy."

Kurt hid his smile behind the flap of his hat, before he followed Finn's example, calling his goodbyes to Carole, who was obviously used to her sons' cryptic messages and simply sent some good wishes downstairs. Burt ushered them into their coats and out of the doors and moments later they were sitting in Burt's car, buckling their seatbelts and pulling out of the drive-way.

* * *

They arrived shortly after six and Finn looked disappointed at the crouching, white and grey stone building in front of them. The sign on the entrance read 'Hybrid Office' and was just as the walls covered in unflattering graffiti. An overgrown path led through the squared front yard, ending in front of two wooden doors, windowless and simple.

"I swear, this is becoming shabbier every time we visit," Kurt said, batting irritated at a few branches, blocking their way. Burt held open the doors for the two boys and together they stepped over the threshold. Shockingly enough, the establishment was even more dilapidated from the inside than it had appeared from the outside. Paint was peeling of the walls, single droplets of water dripped into a metal bucket and the only furniture occupying the room were two tables that looked like they were fresh from the bulky.

Only one of them was occupied, a bored looking guy with greasy hair and glasses sitting behind it and drumming yellow fingernails against the scratched wood. As they passed him he stopped his movements, raising a lazy hand in greeting, before continuing to stare holes in a wall that look unstable enough to break under his gaze. A door at the end of the 'entrance room' lead them through a small corridor and down several staircases, ending in front of a silver gateway.

They moved forwards and then everything was suddenly gone and around them was nothing but air.

At least for the first few moments it took Finn to realise that he was in fact standing in a gigantic hall, walls far, far away, painted in a clear white and the floor an endless mosaic. It was also only then that he noticed all the people around him. There were several sitting areas all across the place, occupied by little groups chatting animatedly, or loners engrossed in books and what looked like newspapers. Right next to the doors five of them were sitting on blankets and cushions, playing various instruments in a careful melody.

Most of them were hybrids. From where they were standing they could also see some humans, bare any hybrid treats – or, maybe they were just not visible? -, but the majority proudly presented tails, feathers, scales, fur and one girl even bared fangs in a wide grin, when she spotted them. Kurt waved at her, storing his headgear and while Finn had been gaping, open-mouthed, he had also freed his tail that was now swishing excitedly behind them.

"Well, welcome to the hybrid underground." Kurt grinned slyly, one ear twitching to the side.

"Burt!" Came a voice from their right and all three turned to see a young man hurriedly approaching. He could not be older than twenty. Maybe twenty-five, his long hair, nearly as red as his tail was falling into his eyes, but he radiated an aura of respect that many teachers could only dream of. He reached them after a little slalom around various people and table, extending an inviting hand. "Burt! What a pleasure to see you again!" He shock their hands, one after the other and Kurt saw Finn wince, when the man crushed his fingers, but other than that he seemed not in the least surprised by Finn's presence besides them.

"I see you brought the newest addition of your family along," he said cheerfully, "Took you long enough."

"Uh, hi?" Finn offered, gently massaging his squished fingers.

He was rewarded with another blinding smile. "Welcome to the HU." His head turned towards Burt, expression suddenly serious. "I would love to stay and chat, but Alex wants to talk to you in his office. Immediately."

"'Course," Burt said, barely keeping from rolling his eyes. "Kurt, bud, would show Finn 'round for a bit? I'll be right back." And before Kurt could protest, or inquire him his father was led away by the other man. Kurt's gaze fell on Finn, who looked just as confused as he felt.

"That was Dean Podanski. He's annoyingly merry most of the time and the right hand of Alexander Winter, the head of this organization," he explained, "Now that that's settled and Dad has been kidnapped to who knows where… Let's begin the grand tour, shall we?"

Finn was still transfixed on where Burt and Dean had disappeared to, but a painful jab from Kurt snapped him out of his reverie and they started moving across the room.

"This has originally been an indoor swimming pool. You may have noticed the blue-white colour-scheme and the mosaics?" Kurt gestured towards walls and chairs and waited for Finn's nod. "Remains from the original purpose of this hall. The swimming area has been filled with concrete, ladders and diving platforms were removed and voilà; It was transformed into the core of our organization. It's mostly used for leisure activities nowadays; reading, playing music, catching up with the newest gossip, things like that." While Kurt had been talking they had crossed the hall and were now standing in front of an unadorned corridor. "This leads to where originally the changing- and locker rooms have been, but nowadays it has been transformed into a row of small offices and meeting rooms."

"Wait, hold on. I thought this was some kind of youth centre? Why offices?" Finn asked.

"Nobody really knows what's going on in there, but we suspect that Alex is in close contact with Jason Honower."

Finn's forehead creased. "The guy that supports hybrids? I think he was in the newspaper once?"

"Not only once. He and his wife are the leading hybrid activist in Ohio and heads of the campaign for bill No. Eight." Kurt sighed at Finn's blank face. "Bill No. Eight …? The bill that is on its way towards the two committees? Ensures more rights for hybrids? Important milestone in hybrid history?"

"Uh ..." Finn still looked lost.

"The one with the tortured animals on their election posters?"

"Ah, yeah! So gross! Did you see that one – oh, wait is it insensitive to talk about this with you?" he asked.

"It's … not my favourite topic," Kurt said carefully. Finn considered him for a moment, but before he could say anything else, they were interrupted.

"Kurtie!" A blonde girl waved him over from the other end of the room and he grabbed Finn by his sleeve thankful for the distraction, dragging him in her direction. "Come on. I'll introduce you to everyone."

The blonde that had called them over was sitting among a small group of girls, all equipped with various animal treats and sprawled across a cushioned bench and two armchairs. His friends grinned at him and Finn stared, wide-eyed at the colourful feathers framing the girls features and pervading her hair. They reached them just in time to see a dark haired girl slipping onto the bench and draping a possessive arm around the bird hybrid, ears twitching irritated as she fixed Finn with a glare.

"Filthy-claws!" She greeted Kurt with a curt nod, hostile eyes not leaving Finn, who seemed transfixed by the aggressive yellow iris, crossed by the slimmest of pupils. "Who's the zopenco gaping at us like he has never seen a girl in his lifetime?"

"Oh, Satan be nice," Kurt said waspish. "You're just jealous that I've brought a boy here, before you did." The words are out, before Kurt can think about the consequences and Finn looked suddenly horribly uncomfortable. He hastily stepped back, bringing as much distance as possible between them. "I'm not – uh I don't – We're not ..." he stuttered and Kurt silently cursed himself.

They had been doing _so _good. His and Finn's relationship had been strained at the beginning, but was ever since constantly improving. Improving rapidly enough in fact, that Kurt had stopped being cautious around the other boy and maybe that had been a mistake. But this was the place and the people Kurt never had to hide in front of, neither his race, nor his sexuality and when he was with Santana she knew how to push all his buttons and he never measured his words during their snippy back and forth.

"Relaxz," Another girl said. Two light-brown bunny ears were sticking out of her curls and her voice was streaked by a little lisp, caused from her out-sized incisors. She had kept quiet so far, watching the exchange with furrowed brow, but now the situation had gone a bit too far. "We know bezt not to assume anything. Expect, of courze we're told to do zo."

"Besides even I know that Kurtie-cat, here, has better taste than that," Santana sneered.

"Well, you would know all about bad taste, wouldn't you San'?" _See? Classic case of Speaking before thinking. _He risked a short glance towards Finn, but he appeared more relieved than offended.

"Well, ignoring theze two and their in-exizting mannerz … " Rabbit-girl struck out her hand. "I'm Gabrielle, but call me Gaby. It'z a pleazure to make your acquaintanz."

"Uh, yeah, hi," Finn answered and Kurt is a little bit proud of him, when he only stared at her teeth for about two seconds, before grabbing her fingers. "I'm Finn. Our parents are dating." He gestured to the noticeable distance between him and Kurt.

"Er, yes, girls? This is Finn, the son of my Dad's girlfriend – you know, the one working for Doctor Leyfert? I've been telling you about her? Finn, this are Brittany, Santana and you've already met Gaby." Kurt had finally remembered their situation and patted girl, after girl on the head. "They're my best girlfriends in here – apart from Rachel and Mercedes, of course, but these two should be joining us soon."

"Rachel? The girl from our school? With the big nose?" Finn asked.

"Uh, yeah? That's one way to describe her, I guess," Kurt said slowly, "After her and Mercedes found out about me they were terribly eager to meddle with my hybrid life." His smile made it clear that he was not nearly as troubled by that as his words let on. "Apropos meddling ..." He trailed of, waiting for the girls to lean closer curiously.

"What'z new? Some gossip for a thirzting girl?" Gaby asked eagerly.

"Not necessarily new, but – remember I told you about Wes and David?

Santana smirked. "Ernie and Bert, with the alarming intimate relationship?"

"Eh, not really. Anyway, you know they've convinced themselves that Nick and Jeff are secretly madly in love with each other and that it would be the most brilliant idea to influence that relationship?"

The girls 'hm-hmed' and Kurt delicately stretched, before launched himself into a detailed description of the past days event. Gaby and Brittany proved to be an excellent audience, laughing at all the right places and cooing exaggerated whenever Kurt described Nick and Jeff's interactions, but Santana felt the need to comment every second sentence, confusing Finn, who seemed to have problems following the story. When the tale reached the boiling point, where they had stumbled upon Nick and Jeff making out, Finn held up his hands.

"Whoa, wait. Hold on! Why where the two dudes kissing?"

Kurt frowned at that, an uneasy feeling compressing his chest. "Because they were – are together," he said slowly.

Finn considered him for a moment. "But, I thought the whole point of the story was to get them together?" he asked slowly and Kurt breathed a sigh of relief. _For a moment he had really thought..._

Santana groaned, rolling her eyes. "Oh mon dios! That's the punch line, Finnocence. They've been a couple all along, surprise, surprise!"

"Oh. Oh!" Finn chuckled surprised. "That's funny." Santana's mouth slowly clapped open and Kurt felt the urgent need to change the topic."Uhu, apropos funny stories: Have your read the speech Morwin held yesterday?"

Gaby snorted loudly, wrinkling her nose. "Hah! Yeah, can't imagine he really believez the rubbizh he'z talking."

"Bunch of bullshit," Santana agreed, picking her nails.

"We're lucky that Honower was foreseeing enough to prepare a contradiction," Kurt said, thoughtfully scratching his ears.

"And that we have enough zupporterz to continue demonztrating." Gaby combed slowly through her hair.

Santana humpfed pejoratively. "Like that's going to change anything."

"Better than doing nothing, isn't it?" Kurt said.

"Not if people are getting hurt!" Santana's voice had rose on its own accord and Brittany extended a finger, soothingly stroking her nose. This distracted the Latina long enough for Gaby to continue her argument.

"You're talking about individual cazez and light injuriez. Not blood and thunder."

"So far!" Santana grumbled, but her attempts were half-hearted.

"Well, the protezt we've been to went by abzolutely peaceful." Gaby's finger tangled in a knot of her curls and her nose twisted annoyed.

"We?" Finn whispered towards Kurt.

"Gaby and her boyfriend. He's a big hybrid supporter and escorts her to all sorts of events," Kurt whispered back, turning towards Gaby. "You two started going to demonstrations again?"

"Uhu, when Honower called up for proteztantz lazt week, we decided it couldn't hurt to join them. It waz quite exhausting, but a great experience. One of the bezt marchez I've ever been to."

"Where there many people?" Kurt asked, leaning forward in interest. His father had never allowed him to join any of the protest marches, no matter how much Kurt had wanted to. "I haven't seen anything in the papers, so I doubt there has been a huge rush, was there?"

"That dependz how you would define 'huge', I guess, but I met a lot of familiar facez. And we had tonz of fun." She laughed at that, caught up in a happy memory. "You zhould come with uz next time."

"I doubt my Dad would allow it, but I'll ask him," Kurt said and speaking of the devil he noticed that while they had been talking, Burt had come back into the room. He appeared to be deep in conversation with a dark-haired man, arms crossed and mouth pressed into a thin line. Kurt turned back to his friends, eyes falling on Rachel and Mercedes, who had just entered. A smile overtook his feature and tail waggling excitedly, he waved them over.

"Hey girlz!" Gaby grinned at them, nose scrunching up adorably.

"Beyonce, Betty Boob," Santana acknowledged them and Rachel huffed offended.

"Why do I have to be Betty Boop?" she asked, just as Kurt's phone started to vibrate on the table. He spared it a short glance, before declining the incoming call, without bothering to check the caller ID.

"Oh, I'm sure in your head you always saw yourself as Barbara, but you can't fight the truth." Santana's forked tongue slipped out to wet her lips and Rachel turned away, shuddering. She could deal with most hybrid treats, but Santana sometimes gave her chills.

Kurt dragged his tail warningly along the snake hybrids back and patted Rachel's arm comfortingly. "Satan's a bit touchy today, but don't worry," he said, gesturing for them to join them. "Oh, I've brought Finn along. You've met in school before, right?"

"Hi Finn!" The girls chorused, breaking into giggles and to Kurt's horror he saw a blush forming on Rachel's cheeks. He thought she had overcome her little crush on the boy from the beginning of the year, when he had put his football-popularity before glee-club, but obviously he had been wrong.

Mercedes dragged two chairs across the room, placing them next to their table.

"So, what's the topic?" she asked conversationally and Gaby and Kurt exchanged a short glance.

"Hybrid politics," Kurt said, causing Mercedes to role her eyes.

"Oh, not again! I thought we had established that sufficiently."

Rachel threw a quick look towards Finn, before nodding along. "There are far more urgent matters to discuss," she said seriously, "Anthony Rashad has stared at Mercedes for approximately 2.3 seconds today."

"No way!" Gaby exclaimed. "The footballer you've been telling uz about?"

Mercedes blushed, but nodded. "Exactly. But there's a bit more to the story than Rachel let's on. It all started in first period, when Jacob Ben Israel interviewed Karofsky ..."

Kurt startled at the name and quickly tuned her out. As much as he loved a good piece of gossip, he really did not want to be reminded of that particular person right now. He let his gaze wander around the room, only stopping when his eyes fell on his father.

Burt was still talking to the unknown man, with a concerning serious face and Kurt briefly wondered if he should walk over and find out what their conversation was about, but then his phone vibrated again and he forgot about his father for the time being.

"Who's so keen on getting' your attention, KK?" Santana asked, grabbing the phone Kurt had not offered her and checking the caller ID. He hastily threw his arms and tail out, trying to catch the retreating hand, but Santana has the reflexes of a … well of a snake and in that case snake beats cat, so it's no use. Huffing, he and his tail settled back in his chair. "What does KK even stand for?"

"He's the singer from Animal Crossing," Brittany stated and Santana smiled and squeezed her hand.

"Oh, it'z Blaine!" Gaby exclaimed, chin resting on her friends shoulder, while she read along. Kurt's ears twitched curiously, the urge to snatch his phone away from them suddenly much more urgent.

"Little McStalker-pants keepin' you busy, eh?" Santana is typing on the screen with her manicured fingernails – ironically painted in a snakescale pattern -, but her eyes were fixed on Kurt's face.

"Wh- I- He- No! Give me my phone!" Spluttering, he dumped both of his hands between the girls. "Maybe it's important."

"Of course it'z important," Gaby said seriously, "It'z an urgent matter of lo-ho-ve." She and Brittany broke into hysterical giggles.

"Oh god. Why am I still talking to you?" Kurt grumbled, finally being lord of his phone again, he unlocked it and jumped up. "I'm going to take this real quick."

"Don't forget to tell him about your undying love," Brittany said, face earnest. Not sure if she was joking, or not, but blushing all the same, Kurt increased the distance between him and the snickering table and pressed the green receiver.

"Blaine! Hi!" he cried out, voice far too high and breathless. Brittany and Gaby cooed elongated.

"Kurt," Blaine said slowly and Kurt blushed tomato-red, when the girls started making loud kissing noises. "Uhm … is this a bad time?"

"No!" Kurt said, too quickly and too loud. "Absolutely not! It's a bit loud in here. Let me just-"

He glared at his friends, quickly backtracking and bringing as much distance as possible between his phone and their shrill giggling. "Okay, I'm alright now. What's up?"

"I simply wanted to talk to you." Blaine's voice sounded muffled, but did nothing to ease the blush on his cheeks. "I mean, our last conversation ended kind of abrupt and I wanted to – I don't know? Prevent any awkwardness? God, that's weird isn't it? I'm acting weird."

"A bit, but in a very debonair way," Kurt said quietly and is glad that nobody can hear how dreamy his voice sounds. He cleared his throat. "Everything's perfectly alright. So, have you talked to your … uh, friend yet?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. We exchanged a few emails yesterday and agreed on meeting wednesday, after school."

"So soon?" Kurt hissed, tail straightening up and Blaine paused. "Uh, I meant … isn't that a bit rash?"

"You think so? Sure, we haven't seen each other in quite some time, but you know it's just some friends getting coffee, casual coffee. A casual meeting. Absolutely casual."

"Blaine?"

"Sorry. I'm a bit nervous"

"Nervous?" Even to his own ears, pressed flat to his head, Kurt's voice sounded strangled.

"Yeah, as I said the last time we saw each other was ages ago and ever since then it has been tense between us. What if it's awkward?"

"Has it ever been awkward between you two before?" Kurt asked carefully.

"No, not really."

"Did you part on bad terms?"

Blaine let out his breath slowly. "Not really, we just lost contact with time and distance."

"And the email contact? Any awkwardness there?"

"Nope." Blaine huffed out a laugh. "I'm acting irrational, aren't I?"

"I don't know about that, since I've never met your friend, but from what you've told me I don't think you've anything to be worried about."

"That sounds surprisingly reasonable. How are you so good at this?"

"Lot's of practice with PPP," he stated matter-of-factly, tail curling casually around his arm.

Blaine paused. "PP ...P?"

"Pre-performance-panic. Handling hysteric girls gives you a certain calmness in situations like this." He smiled over at the girls sitting around the table, catching their stares and hushed whispers._ Oh great. They were talking about him._

"... Right. You'll have to tell me more about your secret ways, when we see each other again. For now, tell me what you've been up to on this fine weekend?"

Kurt shrugged. "Nothing big, dinner with Finn and Carole yesterday, they came over today and we're meeting a few friends."

"Oh shoot, that was the noise in the background. God, I'm totally holding you up!"

"Blaine, it's fine. They actually encouraged me to take the call." He looked back towards the huddled table, an uneasy feeling settling in his stomach. "But I should probably get going soon anyway."

"Alright, I guess I'll see you on monday?" Blaine's voice sounded ridiculously hopeful. _Ridiculously, not endearing, or swoon-worthy. No, not at all. _Kurt nodded, before remembering that Blaine could not see him. "Yup. Until then..."

"Take care, be careful, you know how they say: Better safe than sorry and if I remember correctly -"

"Blaine, you're acting weird again," Kurt sing-songed, stroking his tail with a fond expression.

"Right, sorry. Hanging up, now."

Kurt joined into his silent laughter, shacking his head affectionately. "Bye."

He ended the call with a small smile on his face, slowly making his way back to the girls and Finn. While he had been gone, Rachel had occupied his place on the bench and was currently talking animatedly about something that judging by her hand gestures involved someone drowning and at least three chicken. Finn, the momentous centre of her focus, looked a little overwhelmed, but not at all displeased at the attention.

"Zo, that waz Blaine?" Gaby asked after a moment of silence, causing the rest of the table to erupt in silent giggles and Rachel and Finn to snap momentarily out of their little bubble.

The blood rushed towards Kurt face, embarrassment fighting against the urge to gush, but both is quickly dampened when his eye caught Finn's. He and the other may be on the best way to becoming good friends, but Kurt was far from comfortable enough around his once-upon-a-time bully, to suddenly start discussing his love-life around him. Rachel, next to him seemed to overlook the situation with one quick glance and Kurt is reminded once again why she is one of his closest friends, when her hand closed around Finn's arm and she asked him sweetly if he would like to see their book collection. Finn did not really want to, but between Rachel's hopeful eyes and the firm grip on his arm, he had little to no choice.

"Now that Bugberry has taken care of Finnocence and his benighted human ears ..." Santana trailed of, forked tongue clicking meaningful against her teeth.

"We can get back to the political conversation-topic?" Kurt asked hopeful, squirming uncomfortable on his seat. His tail was curled protectively around his stomach and his ears jerked when Gaby started whispering a endless chant of "Zpill, zpill, zpill." in them.

"There's not much to spill anyway," he tried.

"Oh, that's good. Spilling always gives you stains on your clothes," Brittany said and Santana thread one hand through her hair. "Not like that, Brit. We want him to talk about his relationship with Blaine."

"There's no relationship," Kurt muttered.

"But I thought you liked him?" Brittany asked.

"Of course I like him," Kurt said and Mercedes squealed. "We've become very good friends, best friends even and it's nice to have someone who … understands." He felt a feathered cheek scrap across his neck, when Brittany scooted closer and laid her head on his shoulder in a comforting manner. Apart from that the girls stayed silent though and Kurt felt the urge to continue. "And even if I liked him in that way, even if, that wouldn't be all too horrible, would it? I mean, he's charming and friendly, has incredibly good-manners and is downright gorge-" He quickly stopped himself, but Gaby's eyes were already gleaming and Santana let out a low whistle.

"Wow, Kurtie-cat. That piece of man-candy certainly has your panties in a twist."

Mercedes nodded dedicated. "He's making you gush as if he was Matt Rutherford."

"Mercedes! I've told you that in confidence!" Kurt hissed angrily, tail slapping reproving against her arm.

"Wow-wow-wow. Matt from your glee-club?" Gaby asked disbelieving. "Dark skin, even darker soul and dumping girls right and left from him?"

"He's totally hot, though," Brittany added and Santana nodded and held her hand out for a high-five.

"Didn't think you had it into you, Kurtsekins!"

Kurt bared his teeth at her. "Can we get back to topic, now?"

"If you insist." Mercedes grinned. "So, honest relationship with Blaine?"

"Maybe I'm crushing on him," Kurt said silently. "A bit." _A lot. _

"Hah, I knew it," Gaby muttered.

"But it's not like it matters anyway, does it? First of all, he will never like me back - why would he? - and even if the unlikely happens, I could never start a relationship without revealing my true self and if I do that, he will freak out and panic and run away and hate me forever." At the end of his rant, Kurt was breathing heavily and his eyes were widened in panic.

Gaby crossed her arms. "There'z zo much wrong with thiz, that I don't even know where to begin!"

"Yeah, you're selling yourself short, KK," Santana said almost tenderly, before adding: "If I was into your equipment I would totally tap that."

Brittany nodded, stroking his fingers. "Your skin is very pretty. And soft."

"Thanks girls, but it's no use. Let's change the topic, shall we?"

"But Kurt -" Gaby said.

"Oh look, is that Rachel? And Finn? Funny seeing you here. Where did you disappear to?" Rachel, still several meters away from their table and caught up in conversation, turned her head and stared confused at him.

"Uh, hi?" Finn offered, slowly approaching the rest of the group.

"We were just coming back to you guys," Rachel said. "Kurt, we talked to your father and he said that you and Finn have to head back soon."

"Mum's waiting with supper," Finn said, rubbing his stomach approvingly. "Burt's waiting for us upstairs in the office." Kurt nodded, grabbing his bag and shuffling from behind the table. "Alright. It has been lovely ladies, as always." He kissed Gaby and Mercedes on the cheek, Brittany on the top of her head and even Santana reluctantly accepted a smack on her forehead. Finn stood uncomfortable next to the table, not really sure about the appropriate social protocol and settled on a simple wave. "Uh, bye. T'was a pleasure," he said hesitantly and Rachel beamed at him.

"I'll see you in school, Finn!"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Finn muttered, while they slipped into their coats, waving at the table one more time, before retreating into the hall.

"So long, girls. I'll see you for coffee next week Mercedes, Rachel," Kurt called back at them and he heard Mercedes snort. His phone, still held tightly in his hand, vibrated once, signaling an incoming text.

_Call me, as soon as you get home. Don't think this Blaine-conversation is over, young man – Mercedes_

* * *

**MrsNessa91**: Yeah, let's all hope that poor Pav' stays away from Kurt in the future : D

**FostineFoli**: Thaaank you :) I hope you enjoyed the Furt-interaction this chapter.

**The-power-of-love**: This time the chapter is even on time! Yeah!

**Cold Kagome: **Yeah, poor Kurt, or better poor Pav?

**LilShiho-Chan:** Du wurdest auch schon schmerzlichst vermisst! Alles super-truper und das freut mich. Ich finde ziemlich wenig wichtiger, als das eine Geschichte realistsisch bleibt. Wäre schließlich auch unverzeihlich gewesen, wenn einer von Wevids Plänen mal funktioniert hätte. Sowas geht ja nicht. Hihi, die Pavarotti szene zu schreiben hat schon ziemlich Spaß gemacht und ich bin total glücklich das die so gut bei allen angekommen ist. Tja, wer ist Seth … Da kannst du noch etwas gespannt bleiben : D So, Spannung und Plotentwicklung in diesem Kapitel. Bin mal gespannt auf deine Reaktion! (Und natürlich die aller anderen)

**Read-a-holic1: **Yay! So glad you enjoyed it :)

**Jgirl**: Of course! No Klaine fanfiction, without a little Pavarotti.

**Daisy**: Thank you so much for all the praise :) Hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!

**Rooz33**: I KNOW! Hybridstuff is awesome and I didn't want to spoil anything before, but now you have ALL the Hybrid-interaction! Hybrid underground and actual plot and gnaaah! You can look forward to the next chapters! And thanks for your review :)

**ZomePeople13**: Oh, thank you so much :) This really means a lot to me.

Danke, Tack? : D What does this even mean? Danke is correct though! And then I have a little challenge for you: Ich freue mich wahnsinnig über deine Kommentare! Have fun translating.

P.S: I guessed as much ;)

P.P.S.: I figured out who you were after a while (Well, to be more precise my Beta figured that out, I was just confused and a little bit desperate, because TWO guest reviews? What do I dooo?) : D Tack … well whatever … the only german translation I could think of for thatwould be tick-tack, which is the sound our clocks make while ticking. Cray-cray languages.

**Guest**: Oh, don't worry, I hope this chapter could clear it up a bit more. And the answer to your question is: Partly. While Burt, Finn, Rachel, Mercedes and now obviously also Santana, Brittany and Gaby know about Kurt, Blaine and the other Dalton-boys have no idea. He tries to keep his race hidden so far, not because it's illegal, or something, but because it makes his life much easier.

**Lydia**: Ahaha : D You surely aren't the only one.


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